Super-Critique

No More Updates

2011-04-09T23:19:00.002-04:00

This blog will no longer be updated. All new posts will now be found at http://www.super-critique.com/.

Young Justice: Episode 4 (Drop-Zone)

2011-04-08T23:18:00.000-04:00

Episode 1 and 2 Episode 3
As always, there will be spoilers behind the cut.

We open in Santa Prisca, where a group of red-hooded cultists have cornered a luchador and some mooks. The luchador is told (in Spanish) that if he defeats someone in single combat, he and his men can go. The luchador, who turns out to be Bane, is given back his Venom so that he can fight at his best.

His opponent (a scrawny dude) is given a purple injection and mutates into a huge Hulking monster with his skin splitting to show the muscle underneath in places. Ew.

Bane gets taken down easily. The cultists start chanting "Hail Kobra!"

Um, since when does Kobra employ Hulk-wannabes? At least Kobra looks suitably snake-like, unlike his champion.

After the opening, we cut to Young Justice, who are all in Miss Martian's ship. And it's flashback time: we see Batman briefing them on their current mission in Santa Prisca. Santa Prisca is apparently home to Venom, a neo-steroid. (Because regular steroids just aren't cool enough.) The factory is still producing the stuff, but hasn't been exporting it. They are told that it is a recon mission, and that if necessary the League will get involved.

They're told to work out the leader between themselves. Given how mature, responsible and awesome Aqualad is, I'd say he's the logical choice.

Back to the present, Aqualad leaves at the first drop zone. He swims past mines and cuts his way past a net with ease. He puts some sort of device in place that hides them from heat and motion sensors. Nice of the bad guys to include an easy port to install that into. I declare them officially Too Dumb To Live.

Young Justice uses camouflage-tech to make their uniforms darker (except for Miss Martian who doesn't need it, and Superboy who wears a t-shirt and jeans. Superboy declares: "No capes, no tights." Someone's been watching too much Smallville.

Superboy hears something. Robin takes off, while Aqualad tells them to use infrared to see if they're being tracked. Two groups of bad guys converge and start fighting. (Bane vs. Kobra, Round Two!) Kid Flash tries to find Robin and ends up tripping into the middle of the fire fight.

There's a quick fight, and Robin asks the rest of the team why they didn't vanish into the jungle like he did, and Kid Flash points out they aren't mind readers (aside from Miss Martian).

After they've figured out that Kobra is hording the Venom, Robin attempts to take charge. Kid Flash points out Robin's only 13 and he wandered off without telling them.

Miss Martian attempts to read Bane's mind, but he blocks her by reciting football scores and Spanish. (The main problem with having a telepath on the team is that the writers have to pull stuff like this to keep their powers from interfering with the plot.) Bane tells them "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" while they consider untying him.

They do, and Bane leads them into a hidden entrance. They follow Bane, and he leads them into the warehouse, which is surprisingly empty. Robin immediately disappears, and Kid Flash runs off. "Great chain of command."

Robin knocks out a cult member while they watch the shipment being prepared. Kid Flash catches up with Robin. They find out that the new drugs are a combination of the Blockbuster serum and Venom, which is much stronger than either and permanent.

Sportsmaster, of all people, turns out to be the buyer. I'm not sure whether to be impressed that they're using an obscure villain, or confused about why he's the buyer. (Hm. Sportsmaster and super-steroids. Nope. No connection there.)

Coms are being jammed (of course). Bane comes up with a brilliant plan: attack the guards and draw attention to himself. Actually, it is a rather clever plan: Young Justice is forced to fight the cult members while Bane sneaks off.
Sportsmaster is able to throw a javelin and nearly hit Miss Martian while she's invisible, which is pretty darn impressive. Because the com is down, Aqualad tells her to link them together telepathically. Robin goes to attack Kobra. His henchwoman (Shimmer) fights him for about five seconds before Aqualad tells him to get back and work with the team. (Honestly, is there anyone in the audience at this point who doesn't realize that Aqualad is the obvious pick for leader?)

They make a strategic retreat but are quickly followed. Superboy takes out the support beams, blocking Kobra from following them. They have a talk as a team, and Aqualad points out that Robin (who is 13) has the most experience of them all, but this is actually a bad thing. He's used to working with Batman, and both of them know exactly what their roles are.

"You two do not need to talk. But this team is new. And a leader must be clear. Explicit. He cannot vanish and expect others to play parts in an unknown plan." Robin points out that Aqualad should be leader, and after a momentary objection by Kid Flash, they all agree that Aqualad is the best pick.

"Then I accept the burden, until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders." Aqualad, you're my favorite character, but this may be the dumbest thing I've heard on this show. Robin may be skilled, but he's shown zero leadership abilities or potential. Nothing you could say could possibly make this any worse . . .

"You were born to lead this team. Maybe not now, but soon." -_-

Excuse me while I scream.

They arrive at the exit only to find Bane there. He's set explosives. Aqualad asks him why he betrayed him, and while Bane is monologuing, Aqualad has Kid Flash grab the detonator. Bane is easily knocked out by Superboy.

Bane taken care of, they head to attack Kobra. They show signs of actual strategy, and take out mooks without effort. Sportsmaster somehow locates Miss Martian again while she's invisible, grabbing her and using her as a ~~human~~ Martian shield. Robin goes to take on Kobra, pointing out that Kobra hates to get his hands dirty.

"Sometimes even a god must stoop to conquer." I like Kobra. He's a pretty awesome villain. And he backs up his boast, blocking Robin's attack with his hands behind his back.

Sportsmaster takes off, and it's revealed that Miss Martian had planted explosives on the helicopter. It blows up, but he parachutes to safety.

Kobra leaves, fading into the jungle.

Cut to Mount Justice, where Batman chews them out before telling them they did a good job.

"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy." Their ability to adapt to the situation show He's also pleased with who they chose to be leader.

We then see Sportsmaster, who only managed to get one vial of the super-drug from the island. His employers turn out to be The Light.

Final Thoughts: I'm annoyed that Robin is set up to be "destined" to lead when Aqualad is clearly a superior leader and strategist. This is a minor issue, though. Overall, the episode is good with some fun fight scenes and a decent plot.

New Site

2011-04-07T22:36:00.001-04:00

Just a reminder that my new and improved blog can be found at http://www.super-critique.com/.

Tomorrow: Young Justice, Episode 4 review. After that, all new posts will be at http://www.super-critique.com/.

Children of Supervillains

2011-04-06T17:57:00.000-04:00

Something that always bugs me about comics is the way children of supervillains are treated. It seems to be an unwritten rule that having an evil parent means a character will be evil. Now, if you're the child of a superhero, you may end up good or evil, but it seems that children with supervillain parents are destined for villainy. Exceptions are rare, and even initially good characters will often become evil.

Brainwave, Jr. is one of my favorite characters specifically because he has a supervillain for a father but choose to become a superhero instead. He was often conflicted but unquestionably heroic during his time with Infinity, Inc. Then Infinity, Inc. was cancelled and future writers decided to make him go insane and evil. I mean he must be evil if his father was evil!

Thankfully, this was later retconned by Geoff Johns, who revealed that Brainwave, Jr. had been a victim of mind control. But it still bothers me that writers completely ignored everything except the fact his father was a villain.

This is has extremely disturbing implications. It implies that if your parents are evil, you will be too. That genetics dooms a person to be evil. That free will is irrelevant if you come from a bad family. Plenty of wonderful people come from awful backgrounds. Plenty of horrible people come from good backgrounds.

DNA =/= destiny. I only wish more writers realized that.

Bring Back Anthologies

2011-04-05T22:38:00.000-04:00

American comics used to have many anthology series. Many of the most well known superheroes - including Superman and Batman - started off in anthology books. Today it's rare to find a book with two features, and even then it's usually a feature with a back-up.

The comics industry should bring back anthologies. Look at Shonen Jump: it is an anthology of popular manga and has a circulation of 215,000 monthly. The highest selling American comic for last February were estimated at less than 72,000.

Anthologies allow readers to get many stories at once. They make introducing new features easy and guarantee the features will have a audience.

Libraries, bookstores and magazine racks will often have a copy of a monthly anthology like Shonen Jump, but good like finding American comics on the rack.

Now, I'm not saying that sales will skyrocket if American comics bring back anthologies. But given the current market, it can't hurt.

Fantastic Four (1978 Series)

2011-04-03T21:42:00.000-04:00

In a previous post, I mentioned that there are several Marvel Comics animated series that have been released in the UK but not in the US. One of these series was the 1978 Fantastic Four series, which is the second Fantastic Four that was created. (The first has not been released anywhere.)
The 1978 series is notable for replacing the Human Torch with a robot named H.E.R.B.I.E. There were rumors that the Human Torch was excluded because the writers were worried about children imitating him by setting themselves on fire. These rumors are false (his rights were tied up thanks to a movie that never actually got made).

The series is not available in the United States. However, the complete series (all 13 episodes) is available in Region 2. So, if you like in the UK or have a region-free DVD player, you can watch it. Otherwise you're out of luck.

Here's a courtesy link to the Amazon UK page.

Wonder Woman Pilot

2011-04-02T16:57:00.002-04:00

A pilot for a live action Wonder Woman series is set to debut this fall on NBC. For the pilot, Wonder Woman has traded in her star-spangled swimsuit for pants and a top that looks about two seconds away from a wardrobe malfunction. (Pictures here and here.)

According to Wikipedia, the series will be "a reinvention of the iconic D.C. comic in which Wonder Woman -- aka Diana Prince -- is a vigilante crime fighter in L.A. but also a successful corporate executive and a modern woman trying to balance all of the elements of her extraordinary life."

I'm hoping this doesn't mean that they're getting rid of the mythological roots of the character. I have always loved the concept of Wonder Woman, even though I don't always like the execution. Like Marvel Comics' Hercules, she is a hero that connects the world of comics to the world of mythology. There have been many great stories the involve the Greek pantheon and their interaction with Wonder Woman. A couple of my favorites are Wonder Woman's modern origin story and Greg Rucka's run on Wonder Woman (particular the "Eyes of the Gorgon" storyline).

I am cautiously optimistic about the pilot. If we're lucky, we'll get a fun, action-packed romp with DC's most iconic heroine. If not . . . well, then we'll probably get a repeat of the disappointing animated movie.

New Site- No this isn't a joke

2011-04-01T17:00:00.005-04:00

In about 2 weeks, I am going to quit posting on this site. I'm not going to quit blogging; I'll just be at a new site: http://www.super-critique.com/.

I won't be moving all my posts, but I will be moving my most recent ones (such as my Young Justice episode reviews). I'll continue posting on Blogger for at least 2 weeks while I set up the new site and finish importing posts.

Worst Superhero/Comic Movies (According to the Razzies)

2011-03-31T20:08:00.000-04:00

There are a lot of lists of worst movies based on comics and superheroes. Here is a list I put together based on superhero and comic movies based on Razzie Award Nominations and Wins. I've included Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2, even though it is debatable whether it qualifies as a superhero movie.

Entries with astericks indicate that the awards were for actors who appeared in more than one movie (for example, Jessica Alba was nominated for Worst Actor for appearing in Fantastic Four and Into the Blue.)

8 Nominations
Son of the Mask (1 Win)

7 Nominations
Catwoman (4 wins)
Batman and Robin

6 Nominations
Barb Wire (1 Win)

5 Nominations
Howard the Duck (2 Wins)

4 Nominations
Sheena: Queen of the Jungle
Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2

3 Nominations
Red Sonja (1 Win)

2 Nominations
Jonah Hex
Supergirl
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer *

1 Nomination
The Return of Swamp Thing (1 Win)
Batman Returns
Fantastic Four **
Batman Forever
Steel
Batman Begins
Superman Returns
Superman III
Masters of the Universe
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
The Mask ***

* Jessica Alba was nominated for Worst Actress for her roles in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Awake, and Good Luck Chuck. Jessica Alba was nominated for Worst Screen Couple with Ioan Grufudd in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, with Hayden Christensen in Awake, and with Dane Cook in Good Luck Chuck.

** Jessica Alba was nominated for Worst Actress for her roles in Fantastic Four and Into the Blue.

*** Jim Carrey was nominated for Worst New Star for his roles in The Mask, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and Dumb and Dumber.

Young Justice: Episode 3 (Welcome to Happy Harbor)

2011-03-30T18:40:00.000-04:00

Episodes 1 & 2 Review here.
Massive spoilers behind the cut.

We open to Star City. To my dismay, Speedy is there to bust up a group of thugs. There's a cool shot of a gun being dropped, and a character kicks it upwards and catches it. We find out that Speedy has done this before, and the ringleader is annoyed that Green Arrow is not getting involved. Young Justice shows up. The ringleader apparently has superstrength, and simply ignores any blows he receives. Eventually, he's taken down by Speedy, who uses a foaming arrow to trap him.

Speedy is offered a chance to join Young Justice, but thankfully he doesn't take it. Instead, he lectures the group and whines more about how unfair the Justice League is before leaving. Cut to opening.

One note about the starting: a female archer named Artemis appears in the team shots. I'm disappointed that it's not Arrowette, but I'm avoiding spoilers at this time, so I know nothing about her aside from her name. Given how annoying I find Speedy, I really hope she gets a lot more screen time than him (even though she hasn't appeared yet).

We cut to Mount Justice, where Robin and Kid Flash teleport in while wearing their civvies. Likewise, Miss Martian, Aqualad and Superboy are also wearing civilian clothes. Red Tornado arrives outside the mountain, and Young Justice is disappointed to find out that he doesn't have a mission. Red Tornado suggests that spending time together is an important team building exercise and tells them that they'll be tested soon enough.

Miss Martian tries to read Red Tornado's mind to find out what he's thinking, but he's an android so it doesn't work. It's obviously done for exposition purposes, but it only takes a few seconds, and it shows that Miss Martian really has no concept of manners when it comes to reading others' minds.

Miss Martian plays tour guide, showing the group around. (She and Superboy are living at Mount Justice.) Mount Justice used to be Justice League HQ, but it's location was discovered. Miss Martian is worried about this, but she's assured that they're hiding in plain sight. Anyone want to take bets on whether this will be important in later episodes?

They get interrupted when they smell smoke. Turns out Miss Martian was making cookies. Miss Martian seems to have telekinesis, which she uses to get the cookies out of the oven without touching them. The cookies look like charcoal, but Kid Flash eats some anyway.

They exchange civilian names, except for Robin, who isn't allowed thanks to Batman. For the curious, Kid Flash is Wally, Aqualad is Kaldur'ahm or Kaldur to his friends, and Miss Martian's name is M'gann M'orzz and she's adopted "Megan" as her Earth name. Superboy starts to walk out, and M'gann telepathically assures him that they'll find him a name. Superboy gets ticked by her using telepathy on him. M'gann is shown to be completely confused why it's not appropriate, since telepathy is normal on Mars.

M'gann then takes them to see her bioship. They take it out for a joyride, and it's shown to respond to her thoughts. While in the ship, Kaldur correctly guesses that Superboy regrets blowing up at M'gann but doesn't know how to make things right. He suggests that Superboy simply say that he's sorry.
M'gann shows off her shapeshifting powers, turning into female versions of Robin and Kid Flash. Wally's response? "Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" Wally, tattooing "I like Miss Martian" on your forehead would be more subtle.

M'gann says that mimicking boys is harder, and that she can't pass through objects like Martian Manhunter can. But she can make her ship invisible. Red Tornado contacts them and sends them on a mission to the Happy Harbor Power Plant (which was apparently within a few seconds of their position). A tornado hits the ship, but they manage to land.

Robin immediately vanishes with a creepy laugh. The others arrive to find him knocked backward by the person attacking the plant. He's a red and black robot who identifies himself as Mr. Twister. Note that Robin and Kid Flash are in civilian garb, which seems like a really bad way to try and keep their identities secret. (The other three don't really have secret identities, at least not at the moment.)

Mr. Twister is disappointed to be attacked by "children" instead of a superhero, and asks where their adult supervision is. The group get knocked around by Mr. Twister's wind powers. Kid Flash gets blown backward, but caught by Miss Martian's telekinesis. Annoyingly, she calls him "Wally." Darn it, writers. Quit having the main characters be so stupid about their secret identities!

Mr. Twister reveals that his plan is to attract a superhero. Kaldur tells Miss Martian to read Mr. Twister's mind, but she gets nothing. She then declares that Mr. Twister must be Red Tornado in disguise. The others are annoyed to have Red Tornado trick them like that and confront Mr. Twister. Mr. Twister then generates a storm with lightning. Something that Red Tornado can't do. He calls it "ironic" that they think he's Red Tornado, and quickly disables the group.

Miss Martian puts her cloaked ship in between Mr. Twister and the group, hiding them. Mr. Twister leaves. Superboy accuses Miss Martian of deliberately lying to them about Mr. Twister being Red Tornado, and the others say that it was a "rookie mistake" and suggest that she stay behind while they go after Mr. Twister. Yes, leave the flying, telepathic, telekinetic, shape-shifting member of your group behind. She obviously has no useful skills to contribute.
Mr. Twister reeks havoc on the nearby town, using twisters to send boats flying and demolish buildings in an attempt to get attention. Young Justice confronts him, but he calls them a distraction. Cut to Miss Martian, who is in her bioship communicating with Red Tornado. Red Tornado says that if he came it wouldn't be to help, and calls Mr. Twister's powers an "odd coincidence." She comes up with a plan to deal with Mr. Twister. (She announces this by saying "Hello, Megan!" for about the third time this episode. I hope this doesn't become a catch phrase. It's a bit annoying.)

Mr. Twister is clearly more powerful than the group, dodging bombs from Robin and tossing the other members around. Again, we get a nice fight scene, as the heroes get their butts kicked. Miss Martian talks to them telepathically and asks them to trust her.

Red Tornado flies in and tells the group to leave. Mr. Twister and Red Tornado throw some twisters back and forth before Mr. Twister hits Red Tornado with some electricity. Mr. Twister then attaches some wires to Red Tornado saying that "the reprogramming won't take long." Red Tornado's head becomes Miss Martian's. So boys forms are hard, but robot forms are easy?

Kid Flash had generated the twister with his powers, and the others use the element of surprise to knock Mr. Twister around. What's left of Mr. Twister falls to the ground and a skinny man falls out. Miss Martian drops a huge rock on him before Aqualad can stop her. Robin gets ticked. "I don't know how it's done on Mars, but on Earth, we don't execute our captives!" Miss Martian then reveals that the man was an android.

We cut to a Professor with a thin mustache and a man named Bromwell. The unnamed professor - who is probably meant to be Red Tornado's creator, T.O. Morrow - is pleased with what they've learned and doesn't seem at all upset that Mr. Twister got pulverized.

At Mount Justice, the group are talking with Red Tornado. The group is concerned that Mr. Twister was obviously meant to attack Red Tornado. Red Tornado says "This was your battle. I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you. Nor should you solve mine for me." Red Tornado turns to leave. Robin points out that other heroes would have stepped in, and decies that if they have to have a babysitter a "a heartless machine" is probably best. Hey, that's one of my favorite characters you're dissing, bird boy.

Red Tornado corrects him. (He has a carbon-steel alloy heart, so the statement is inaccurate). Robin apologizes, and Aqualad suggests that Robin be more respectful in the future.

Superboy says "sorry" to Miss Martian, and the episode ends.

Ending Thoughts: This was a good episode, although not quite as good as the first two. We get some nice hints at future storylines, and get the chance to see the group bond as a team. My only serious complaint is that the group really needs to be better about hiding their identities. Miss Martian, Aqualad and Superboy don't have secret identities at this point, but Robin and Kid Flash should really know better. I hope this becomes a plot point later rather than just being ignored.

I'm really hoping Red Tornado's wife and daughter show up at some point. It's likely they don't exist in this series, but it would be nice if they did. (His adoptive daughter Traya is adorable.)

Young Justice: Episode 1 & 2 (Independence Day & Fireworks)

2011-03-29T19:51:00.002-04:00

I've been watching Young Justice. I'm really enjoying myself, so I decided to start reviewing the episodes. (I'll be reviewing episodes as I watch them, and avoiding spoilers as much as I can.) I'm going to review the first 2 episodes in this review, since it's a two-parter. Warning: this will be long.

Ten word summary: Great episodes, fun characters and excellent animation. A solid beginning.

Massive spoilers behind the cut.

Episode Overview: We have four short scenes with heroes and sidekicks taking out ice-themed villains. Batman and Robin take out Mr. Freeze. Speedy and Green Arrow take out someone who I think is Icicle. Aquaman and the new Aqualad take out Killer Frost (I think). Kid Flash and Flash take out Captain Cold. Each of the sidekicks are excited because "today is the day."

Two hours later, at the Hall of Justice. (I'm dead serious: it's the Hall of Justice from Super Friends, except with much better animation.) The sidekicks and heroes pass by a bunch of tourists and enter the Hall of Justice, which the sidekicks are being allowed in for the first time. Kid Flash points out that it's the first time the 4 sidekicks have been at the same place, and Speedy snaps at him not to call them sidekicks. Between this and his whining in his first scene, I'm already beginning to dislike Speedy.

Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter show up to show them around, and tell them they now have access to the League's library, galley and gym. This is their first step towards League membership.

Batman (and everyone in the audience above age 5) sees the four ice-themed villains attacking at the same time as suspicious, and has the League go to a door for "Justice League members only" so they can discuss it.

Speedy gets mad that they aren't allowed to come along, and reveals that the Hall of Justice is just a tourist trap and that the real headquarters is the Watchtower satellite. He wasn't supposed to know this, but Green Arrow told him anyway. He is the only sidekick to know about the Watchtower at all, so when he whines about not getting any respect, it falls pretty flat. (Hey, Roy: you have to earn respect, and whining is not a good way to earn it.) Green Arrow asks Batman to make an exception, and allow the sidekicks to come along to the Watchtower.

Aquaman tells Speedy to stand down and calls him "son." Speedy immediately says "you're not my father". He then shows what an ungrateful brat he is by saying that Green Arrow isn't his dad either and storming off, saying he doesn't want to be Green Arrow's partner anymore. Good riddance.

Superman contacts the League and tells them that Cadmus is on fire. Batman mentions he has suspicions about Cadmus, but is interrupted by Zatarra saying that Wotan is using a magical artifact to attempt to blot out the sun. (I'm disappointed that we don't actually get to see Wotan, since I enjoyed his appearances in All-Star Squadron.) Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad are left behind, and they are annoyed at not being allowed to leave. Aqualad shows himself to be rather dignified and respectful. He calls Aqualad "my mentor, my king," and comes across as genuinely hurt that Aquaman doesn't trust him.

Robin hacks the Hall of Justice computers to find out what Project Cadmus is (it uses the same system as the Batcave). It takes about 5 seconds. Nice computer security there, Bats. Did you use the exact same password, or did you just forget that your sidekick is an über-hacker?

The three decide to go to Cadmus. They save a couple scientists, and Aqualad spots someone with grey skin and horns leaving on the elevator. (There are 52 sub-levels.) Once they get off the elevator, they immediately run into some huge hulking . . . things that are obviously not natural.

We cut to Guardian talking to a scientist named Desmond, and the creature that Aqualad saw earlier. We find out that the little thing perched on his shoulder is a "genome," a creature with telepathic powers. It also has mind control powers, since when Guardian tries to leave him behind, a genome uses mind control to make him take it along.

Aqualad points out the myth behind the name "Cadmus," and I grin because I'm a huge mythology nerd. Robin easily hacks Cadmus' computers before being interrupted by Guardian. Guardian wants to just call the League, but one of the genome's forces him to attack them instead. Robin runs off ahead while Aqualad and Kid Flash fight, and they travel down to investigate "Project Kr." Aqualad realizes that this is out-of-hand and suggests contacting the League.

The horned creature from earlier attacks them, and they retreat down one of the hallways. It helpfully ends in a door labeled "Project Kr" so they enter. Anyone with knowledge of the comics (or the periodic table) is unsurprised that Project Kr is Superboy, a clone of Superman.

Superboy is 16 weeks old, but was rapidly aged to a teenager and fed an education by the genomes. Kid Flash points out that Superboy is essentially Superman's son, and Aqualad decides that it's now time to get the League involved. Naturally, they're signals are being jammed, so it doesn't work.

The three set Superboy free, and he immediately attacks them thanks to the nearby genomes controlling him. It's a great fight scene, and it shows how hopelessly outgunned the three are by Superboy. Aqualad lasts the longest, showing off his powers before getting knocked. Superboy rips open the door.

End episode 1.
Episode 2 begins with Desmond contacting "The Light", a mysterious group which is apparently in charge of Cadmus. He asks what to do with the sidekicks, and is told to clone them and to "dispose of" the originals.

The three sidekicks wake up thanks to a telepathic voice, and see that Superboy is watching them. We then cut to the scientist and Guardian. Guardian sees nothing wrong with Superboy "stretching his legs" but the scientist disagrees and uses a genome to get Guardian to put Superboy back in his pod.

Back to the sidekicks trying to convince Superboy that they're on his side. Aqualad figures out that Superboy probably isn't in full control of his actions, and Superboy talks to them. They try to convince Superboy to turn on Cadmus by pointing out that he's never even gotten to see the sun or experience life outside his tube. Superboy reveals that his purpose is to replace Superman if he dies, and to destroy him "if he turns from The Light", and Aqualad tells him that emulating Superman is a worthy ambition.

They offer to show Superboy the sun and to introduce him to Superman. Of course, they get interrupted and Guardian is told to "get the Weapon back into its pod." Superboy looks annoyed, but is forced to comply by a genome. We then see them actually extracting blood from the sidekicks for the cloning process. I'm honestly surprised that they were allowed to show blood. And in the first episode no less.

We find out the horned creature from earlier is named Dubbilex. He's told to ensure the cloning process goes alright and to kill the originals after the clones are done and they're memories have been downloaded by the genomes.

Aqualad talks to Superboy, and Superboy hears him thanks to his super-hearing. Aqualad tells him that he has a choice about whether he wants to be a weapon or a person. ("What would Superman do?") Superboy goes back to free them.

Kid Flash asks whether he's going to help them or fry them. Superboy squints and says: "I don't seem to have heat vision, so I suppose helping is my only option." Superboy's snarky. I like that.

Robin tells Superboy to free Aqualad, and Superboy does so (although he tells him not to give him orders). Aqualad simply thanks him and gives me one more reason to like him. He's seems to be very good at reading people, and he's definitely the most level-headed of the bunch.

They leave and blow up the cloning pods. The scientist has every genomorph in the building activated to deal with the four. They go up the elevator shaft, and Superboy discovers that he can leap tall buildings in a single bound but not actually fly. Superboy hears telepathic suggestions about where to go, and leads them to an air vent which they use to escape through.
They eventually get stopped by a large group of genomorphs, and Dubbilex suggets that Superboy make up his own mind "for the sake of all genomorphs." Turns out, Dubbilex is the one who's been helping them (and he's the one who set the fire). They lift the mind control on Guardian, and Superboy chooses freedom rather than remaining at Cadmus.

Desmond uses Project Blockbuster, some sort of serum. He drinks it and proceeds to hulk out. (I'm getting flashbacks to Justice League Unlimited and General Eiling.) His skin rips off to reveal a stone-like body underneath. Pieces of his skin are still hanging from his face and shoulders, which is just as creepy as it sounds.

Guardian attacks Desmond, but gets knocked out quickly. Superboy attacks next, and the two break through the ceiling. We get a really nice fight scene, with each of the characters getting a chance to show off their powers (or in Robin's case, his skills at strategy).

They end up winning by collapsing the ceiling on Desmond. They end up exhausted, hurt and with ripped costumes, but they win the fight. Superboy gets to see the moon for the first time, and then Superman shows up with other superheroes. (Red Tornado, Captain Marvel, Zatarra, Martian Manhunter, Captain Atom, Hawkman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Black Canary, Aquaman, Batman, Green Arrow and Flash.)

We get a very nice, silent scene. Superboy approaches Superman and shows his "S" to him. Superboy's expression is faintly hopeful, and Superman looks surprised, then suspicious. Superboy is obviously hurt by the suspicion. Then Batman further ruins the moment by asking "is that what I think it is?" (Tactful, Bruce.) Superboy announces "I'm Superman's clone" and everyone looks surprised.

A little later, some of the heroes cart Desmond off, while Superman, Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman talk. We don't hear any of what they say, but we get another excellent use of body language to convey the mood. Superman's obviously not happy about being cloned, and he obviously has no clue how to deal with Superboy.

Aqualad points out that they did good work there, and they attempt to convince the adults that they should be a team. Superboy shows a distinct lack of tact by telling them to "get on board or get out of the way." Cut to 4 days later at "Mount Justice," which was apparently the original home of the Justice League.

Red Tornado volunteered to supervise them, and watch over the team (although they haven't actually been called Young Justice yet). Black Canary will train them, and Batman will deploy them on covert missions. They will be working for the League on covert assignments that the League can't do for themeselves.

We then get introduced to the fifth member of the team: Miss Martian, who is introduced as Martian Manhunter's niece. Kid Flash flirts with her, but Miss Martian already seems to like Superboy.

End episode.

Animation: I love the animation. There are some really nice moments that were great purely because of the visuals. Superman’s reaction to finding out Superboy is his clone is excellent, and almost entirely visual. The fight scenes were fun and energetic. No complaints here.

Voice Acting: The voice acting was strong, and I recognized several of the voices. (Desmond was voiced by Odo, Aqualad is Cyborg, etc.). There were several points where Robin seriously creeped me out since he has a habit of laughing in a manner which keeps making me think of Return of the Joker.
Characterization: The characterization was excellent, giving us an idea about what the characters are like. Robin has a habit of running ahead and not communicating with others, and he finds being a superhero fun. Kid Flash is impatient and impulsive but also excitable, friendly and a bit of a goofball. Aqualad is mature, level-headed and dignified. Superboy has a problem with authority and a temper problem. He's proud of being Superman's clone, and Superman's initial reluctance to accept him hurt and angered him. We even get some nice character moments for several of the adult superheroes, even though they have very little screen time.

Favorite Character: Aqualad is officially my favorite character on the show. He’s mature, respectful, and intelligent. He didn’t attempt to plead or demand Superboy free them; instead, he made it clear that Superboy did have a choice and didn’t have to serve Cadmus blindly. Plus, it takes real guts to use electricity when you’re a water-based superhero.

Least Favorite Character: Speedy is by far the most annoying character in the first episode. He’s a whiny little git, and I really hope we don’t see much of him in later episodes. He was obviously the sidekick who had the most information, but he still managed to be ungrateful about it. And it’s a low blow to play the “you’re not my real father” card to the man who took you in and raised you. At least in the comics he had an excuse for disliking Green Arrow. Here, he's just a brat.
Fun Moments: One of the tourists points out that Speedy being Green Arrow's sidekick instead of Flash's makes no sense.

When they're getting ready to clone the sidekicks, Robin says: "Pass. Batcave's crowded enough."
Dumb Moment: Green Arrow calls Speedy "Roy" while tourists are watching through a window, and they discuss the Watchtower in the same place, even though it's supposed to be a secret. I really hope none of those tourists can read lips.

Confusing Moments: Mr. Freeze refers to other ice-themed villains as his family. (In the comics, they don't have anything to do with each other.)

I’m not quite clear on the source of Aqualad’s powers. He can control water and make hard water constructs. He also has the ability to generate electricity, although that seems to be generated by some gadgets he’s wearing. I have no clue whether his water powers are natural or controlled the same way or not. The water-breathing is definitely natural, though, since he has gills on his neck and webbed fingers and toes.

Wild Mass Guessing: I wonder if Aqualad's blond hair is significant. (In the comics, Aquaman was abandoned as a baby due to having blond hair, which Atlanteans considered a curse.)

Miss Martian is introduced as Martian Manhunter's niece. In the comics, she's a White Martian (who are evil), but choose to join the side of good and disguised herself as a Green Martian so others would be more likely to trust her. This could lead to two plot elements which I would love.

1) She's actually a White Martian, and she's lying about being J'onn's niece.

2) She actually is J'onn's niece, and she's the daughter of J'onn's brother, Ma'alefa'ak. (Ma'alefa'ak is J'onn's evil twin brother, who was the one responsible for killing off almost the entire Martian race.)

I doubt either will happen, but it would be cool if they did.

Conclusion: We're already getting hints about future storylines, and we've got a good idea what each of the characters is like. I suspect that most non-comics fans are going to be horribly lost about what’s going on, but as a comics fan, I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

Marvel + UK = OTP?

2011-03-28T19:12:00.002-04:00

In my last post, I mentioned that The Marvel Super Heroes is available on DVD only in the UK (Region 2). Well, it turns out that's true of a lot of Marvel Comics cartoons. Don't believe me? Here's a list.

1) The Marvel Super Heroes
2) Fantastic Four (1978 series)
3) Spider-Woman
4) Spider-Man (1981 series)
5) Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
6) The Incredible Hulk (1982 series)
7) The Incredible Hulk (1996 series)
8) Silver Surfer
9) Spider-Man Unlimited
10) The Avengers: United They Stand

Honorable mention goes to the 90s Spider-Man cartoon, which has been had all 4 seasons released in the UK but only a few DVDs with 4-5 episodes each released in Region 1.

Now I'm all for releasing these series in the UK but would it kill them to release them in the United States too?

The Marvel Super Heroes- You Don’t Get Much More Old School Than This

2011-03-26T22:34:00.002-04:00

I really have no taste when it comes to superhero TV shows. I've enjoyed Super Friends episodes for their endless cheesiness, and I actually own Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation on DVD. Mind you, I don't think Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation was good, but I enjoy making fun of how laughably bad it is. The same is true of many other older shows.

While looking into older cartoons in my endless search for cheesy superhero cartoons, I came across the first ever animated series by Marvel Comics: The Marvel Super Heroes. The Marvel Super Heroes aired in 1966, and the style of animation makes them pretty much the first motion comics. And yes, motion comics were just as pathetic looking back then as they are now.

The show had 5 different features: Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, The Invincible Iron Man, The Mighty Thor, and Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner. 13 episodes of each of the features were produced, making a total of 65 episodes.

Amusingly, these shows were allowed to have content that was often not allowed in future cartoon series. About a dozen titles included "die" or "death", and the very first episode involves realistic looking fire arms.

If you're like me and enjoy older cartoons, it is available on DVD . . . but only for Region 2 (Europe). If you live anywhere outside of Region 2, this means that you'll need a region-free DVD player if you want to actually watch the DVDs. (Otherwise, you'll just be buying some expensive Frisbees.)

Be warned that this show is incredibly corny and its age really shows. If you can, watch some episodes before buying it, so you know what you’re getting into.

Here are links to the DVDs on Amazon UK, if you're interested in buying them.

1) Marvel Superhero Classics Collection [DVD]
Contains 52 episodes (all but the Incredible Hulk episodes).

2) The Incredible Hulk 1966 Complete Season
All 13 Incredible Hulk episodes.

Creeper as a Demon

2010-10-07T21:10:00.000-04:00

There was a six-issue Creeper miniseries that came out in 2006. It firmly established his origin as purely scientific. Or at least as scientific as "multiple personalities brought on by smart skin that gives you a healing factor, a laugh that makes people's ears bleed and a green speedo that materialized out of nowhere" can be.

In fact, Creeper has always had a (pseudo) scientific origin. Originally, he was was given a device that switch back and forth between his Creeper wardrobe and whatever he was wearing. He was completely sane, but he acted insane in order to scare criminals. Later writers had him begin to show signs of genuine insanity, and eventually his origin was retold by Keith Giffen so that he actually was insane . . . at least when he was the Creeper.

In the 1990's, Creeper got a solo series which made both Jack Ryder and the Creeper genuinely insane. Jack Ryder suffered from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and a host of other psychological issues, which resulted in the creation of the Creeper persona. It was an excellent, if short-lived, series which had as much psychological drama as action.

The 2006 retelling of Creeper's origin doesn't really clearly fit anywhere within previous storylines, but it still maintained the split personality and insanity that the character had developed.

Then Keith Giffen turned the Creeper into a demon that possesses Jack Ryder in the poorly written Reign of Hell series. This destroyed the psychological drama that had made the character so interesting and intriguing, and essentially made him the poor man's Etrigan. Not only that, but it retconned the new origin that had been established two years earlier. And Keith Giffen should have known better, since he wrote the retold origin which made Creeper insane in the first place!

Sadly, rather than ignore Reign in Hell, Creeper is being even more poorly written in the current run of Outsiders . . . by Dan Didio. (I'll save my rant about editors not being writers for another time.) Creeper is now a dime-a-dozen demon with no signs of insanity and no signs of the character who I had grown to love. In fact, he was better written in Countdown . . .

I know DC Comics and Dan Didio don't give a damn about my opinion, but I'm going to ask this anyway: Please, please, please drop the "Creeper as demon" plot point. It was poorly written, poorly executed and poorly conceived. I miss the lovable maniac I grew to love . . . and I'm sure I'm not the only fan of the Creeper who feels that way.

Wonder Woman Movie

2010-10-02T21:21:00.000-04:00

Just watched the Wonder Woman animated movie. I'm . . . underwhelmed. Although the plot had some problems, my main problem was with Wonder Woman and how her character was handled.

I'll admit that I don't read Wonder Woman regularly, but what I have read about her tells me this:

Wonder Woman is kind. She doesn't shove her views and morals in others' faces. Instead she leads by example, showing compassion, mercy and kindness. She shows women are men's equals by example. She doesn't treat men as inferiors, but rather as friends and equals.

Wonder Woman can be brutal in a fight, but she is just as willing to help redeem an enemy as she is to administer a beatdown. In fact, she would much rather help an enemy become a friend than fight them. She favors diplomacy over violence, but understands that violence is sometimes necessary in order to protect the lives of others.

The Wonder Woman in this movie is not that Wonder Woman. The Wonder Woman of this movie reminds me of a caricature of a man-hating feminist: one that believes that women are the epitome of virtue and that the world would be perfect if only those evil men weren't involved. (Admittedly, there are some crazies in the feminist movement, but most aren't like that. And Diana certainly never was like that.) She's arrogant, cocky and she isn't in the least bit regal. To be fair, she still is shown to want to do the right thing, help others and make the world a better place . . . but her claims about wanting to bridge the gap between "man's world" and the Amazons seem hollow given her actions.

Even though I'm not a huge fan of Wonder Woman, it still bugs me to see a portrayal this far removed from her comic book counterpart. I think I'm gonna go read the "Gods and Mortals" TPB, and wonder why they didn't just adapt that instead. Because it would have rocked.

The X-Men and Teenage Pregnancy

2010-09-17T19:34:00.000-04:00

I'm admittedly quite a bit behind when it comes to Marvel Comics, so this may seem like old news . . .

Angel Salvadore was introduced in New X-Men #118. In issue #141, she ends up having six kids. I have one huge problem with this. Angel was fourteen when she was introduced. And unless I missed something, she didn't have a birthday in that time (even if she did, she'd still only be fifteen).

I have yet to meet a fourteen year old who is emotionally mature enough to have sex, let alone raise a child. Raising a child is a full-time job. It requires maturity, patience and a willingness to put the baby's needs over your own. Teenagers - especially young teenagers - tend to be immature, have little to no patience, and tend to believe that their own needs and desires are the only things that matter. (Lord knows I was like that when I was 14.)

And yet none of the X-Men seemed to give a care that a fourteen year old girl had just had a bunch of babies. Excuse me? Is no one concerned about the fact that she has no way of supporting these babies? Or that there's no way in hell that she's emotionally mature enough to handle this? Or the fact that these newborns are already not only crawling but flying meaning they'll be exponentially more difficult to contain and care for than ordinary newborns? Not to mention there's six of them.

Someone should have cared that a fourteen year old child got pregnant while under the X-Men's care. But no one did. The issue never really even seemed to get addressed. (Also, if Beak was any older than she was, it was statutory rape.)

Nice to know that not only are the X-Men into child endangerment, but they don't give a damn about teenage pregnancy either.

Random Thoughts About DC's Speedsters

2010-09-16T19:26:00.000-04:00

Has anyone else noticed that pretty much all of DC speedsters have evil counterparts? Jay had Rival, Barry had Professor Zoom, Wally had Zoom, Bart had Inertia. Even Max Mercury had Savitar. I don't think Johnny or Jesse Quick did though . . . but their connection to the Flashes is the most tenuous of the speedsters.

They also have one of the best track records when it comes to happy marriages. Jay and Joan have been together for decades. Barry is happily married to Iris, and Wally is happily married to Linda. I hope the pattern holds, once Bart and Wally's kids become adults. It's refreshing to see superheroes who manage to end up in happy, stable relationships instead of being in "will they or won't they" or "on again off again" romances that plague comic books. It would also be nice to see characters who were allowed to mature and age.

I'm still unsure about Barry's return, mainly because I'm not familiar with him. I don't have a problem with resurrection in comics, but I did have a problem with Wally losing his book to a character I barely know. And unless the Flash title gains the reputation of being one of the best comics coming out, it's probably going to be awhile before I bother trying to get to know him.

I'm also not much for Iris becoming the new Impulse. Bart lost a lot of his individuality and fun character traits when he became Kid Flash, and I would have liked to see him going back to being Impulse. I would have been all for Iris becoming the new Kid Flash, though.

Steered Towards "Girl" Comics

2010-09-12T20:51:00.000-04:00

I had an interesting experience at my local comic book store a while back. I asked for recommendations, and was recommended several books. Only one really interested me (Y: The Last Man). After I left, I realized something: most of the comics that I was recommended were comics starring women or written specifically for women.

I assume this was done since I'm a woman. I suppose it's nice that the shop carries those comics . . . but it makes me wonder if a male customer would have been recommended something different. Did I miss out on some good comics because it was assumed I wouldn't like "guy" comics?

Most of my interests fall within the stereotypical "guy" interests: comic books, sci-fi, computers, etc. Most of the comics I see aimed at women don't appeal to me. In fact, when a comic is specifically marketed at women, I'm more hesitant to pick it up. (The second I heard Marvel Divas was essentially Sex & the City with superheroes, it made me vow to avoid the thing like the plague. If I wanted Sex & the City, I'd watch Sex & the City.)

I want well written stories with interesting characters, interesting character interactions, some fun fight scenes and some spandex-wearing superhero goodness. I don't care if the main character is a woman or a man. I just want a good story.

Is It Possible to Feel Nostalgic for Someone Else's Childhood?

2010-09-09T20:14:00.000-04:00

I have a curse. I never discover a good comics series until it's already over. (Or, shortly after I pick up a series, it will be cancelled.) Part of this is because I begin reading comics until the 2000's, and it wasn't until the past three or four that I started actively collecting them. Even today, a good chunk of what I'm reading is back issues and TPBs.

This leaves me in an unusual situation. Most of my favorite comics came out before I started reading comics. The comics that came out when I was a little kid don't have any nostalgic value for me . . . because I wasn't reading them. I don't consider Wally "my Flash." I don't have a Green Lantern that is my Green Lantern.

Some of my favorite comics are recent ones. Others are Golden Age. Some are Bronze Age. Some I'm not even sure what era they are. (I'm a little fuzzy on the dividing lines between the eras.)

But most of my comics are ones that are no longer being published. Or they've changed so much they have little in common with the old comics except for the title.

I'm nostalgic for comics I didn't grow up on. Weird.

The Art of Batwoman

2010-09-08T19:00:00.001-04:00

Although I don't normally read Detective Comics, I have flipped through some issues since Batwoman became the main feature. For the most part, I love the art. The panel arrangement is takes risk and for the most part, really works well. It's also some of the most creative and beautiful art I've seen recently in a comic book.

I love that Kate has a unique fashion sense. It reminds me of why I like some of the more elegant gothic fashion. (I'm also not sure if "elegant goth" was the look they intended with Kate's civilian outfits, but that's what I'm reminded of.) To me it's much more interesting than her stereotypical debutante look that she first sported. I'm actually really glad they changed the look of her character. (And glad that they commented on the horribly impractical heels of her Batwoman costume.)

But I do have one request for the artist and/or colorist. Please, please, please: quit having Kate be chalk white.

No human being is that pale. It's unnatural. And the color can't be make-up, because she always looks like that. She reminds me of a porcelain doll, which is not a look that goes well with a strong character that's capable of kicking major butt.

(It also reminds me of the corpse-esque make-up they gave Edward in the Twilight movies. Not attractive and extremely creepy and jarring.)

Aside from that, the art is gorgeous. But I'm a blogger and a comics fan: I'm required by law to nitpick. ;)

Resurrection (of my blog) and Resurrection (in comics)

2010-09-07T22:29:00.003-04:00

Super Critique of Blogger.com, Rise!

Since this post is resurrecting my blog, I decided to use it to address resurrection in comics. Specifically, the "Revolving Door Afterlife" that many comics have, where death is nothing but an inconvenience.

The Revolving Door Afterlife annoys some comics fans, and both DC and Marvel have attempted to close the Revolving Door Afterlife, but it never seems to work. Why?

The Revolving Door Afterlife is a good thing. To demonstrate why, I'm going to address a few complaints and criticisms that the Revolving Door Afterlife gets:

1) It cheapens the deaths of the characters! The sad fact is: most of the deaths were cheap way before the character got brought back. Characters (especially C-Listers) are often used as fodder for story lines. Many times they are not introduced or named before they are killed. Many of these characters could be (or have been) amazing under the correct writer.

There are some extraordinarily well-written deaths. But a live character is always more interesting than a dead one.*

2) But it's a cop-out! Yes, it is. No argument here. But it's a cop-out that can lead to some amazing story lines. Think about it.

What must it be like to live in a universe where resurrection is real? What would it be like for you to lose a parent, a sibling or a child, and then they come back from the dead? How many people would refuse to go on with their lives because there was even a tiny chance that their loved one would come back? Why did a mass murderer get a second chance at life while your 8-year old daughter never came back?

These issues are rarely addressed . . . but they should be.

3) It isn't realistic! Um, are we ready the same comics? You know: the ones with spandex clad heroes who can lift entire city blocks but lose all their power in the presence of a green rock? The ones where seeing his parents murdered in cold blood leads a child to become a superhero rather than just requiring massive amounts of therapy? Although some things about comics can be realistic (characterization, for one), comics are by their nature unrealistic.

Resurrection, the afterlife . . . these are things that we debate whether they exist in the real world. But in comics, we know they can and do exist. I can suspend my disbelief in this situation because it's a long-established element of both the Marvel and DC Universes.

4) It ruins any tension for character deaths. This (in my opinion) is probably the best criticism of the Revolving Door Afterlife. It's hard to get upset when Captain America, Batman and Superman died. We know they'll be brought back. It's a given from the start. No way that Marvel or DC will get rid of them for good. They're too afraid of risking alienating and losing fans, and - more importantly - money.

And yet . . . Superman's death still managed to make me tear up. And the way I learned about his death was by hearing about his new resurrected form, so I knew that it wasn't permanent. But the story still holds up. It can still get an emotional reaction from me. While the cynic in me will always say "no way they'll kill X off for good", well-written deaths can still make me react. I still care about what happens. I can still relate to the pain and heartbreak that their loved ones experience.

The big names of comicdom are guaranteed a free trip out of the afterlife. But most characters aren't. Most of my favorite characters are C-Listers: I almost never have a guarantee that characters I love will come back from the grave. The fact that these deaths are often so gratuitous and unnecessary only makes it worse. Characters with amazing potential are slaughtered and may never appear again simply because they aren't household names.

As long as there are poorly written deaths in comics, the Revolving Door Afterlife is not only a good thing. It's a necessity.

* This sentence is paraphrased from an article about how to write good fanfiction. Sadly, I read it several years ago, and I was unable to find it again when writing this post. If I ever do run across it again, I'll post a link. It had a lot of good advice that can be applied to all types of fiction writing.

Edit: Found the site. Link here.

Justice Society of America #38 Review (Spoilers)

2010-05-01T20:36:00.006-04:00

There have been many good time travel and alternate universe stories written throughout the history of comics. This is not one of them.

The setting is Earth after the entire world has been taken over by a Neo Nazi Fourth Reich. Of course, readers know that this is going to be reversed at the end of the storyline, so there’s no reason to care about the characters who die or get injured. We all know the Magic Reset Button is going to be pushed sooner or later.

Not only that, but the logic for how everything went to hell is laughable, even by comic book standards. I was instantly reminded of JLA: Act of God. (Although that might have more to do with the fact that Linkara is reviewing it currently.)

Heroes losing their powers through the powers of inane plot device? Check. Both technology and magic being effected in the exact same way, regardless of what previous continuity says? Check. Blue Devil somehow loses his powers, even though he is a demon because of a deal with the devil! The fact that Willingham wrote 16 issues of Shadowpact gives him no excuse for this stupid plot element.

Not only that, but this is Justice Society of America, and yet we don't see a single member of the JSA until halfway through the book! Of the characters who are starring in the book, only one (Mr. Terrific) is featured prominently, while any others that appear are just there as background props.

Oh, and the idea of the Fourth Reich operating concentration camps in present day? I don’t care what various stories about dystopian futures say. There is no way there are enough people on Earth supporting such a regime for it to work. With no super powers for anyone, the Fourth Reich is vastly outnumbered and outgunned. There is no logical reason why people couldn’t have fought back and won against them. Easily.

I give this comic a 2/5, and only because the art's decent. And it's still extremely generous.

The 2010 Eisner Awards

2010-04-30T20:36:00.000-04:00

Well, something has happened that manage to rouse me out of my long period of no updates. James Robinson was nominated for an Eisner Award for his work on Cry for Justice.

What the hell?

James Robinson has produced great work . . . in the past. Cry for Justice is the worst comic series he has ever written. The villain's a Gary Stu, the plot has more holes than swiss cheese, all the characters behave radically differently from their previously established personalities, the plot meanders. The comic tries to take itself seriously while using juvenile humor. The only thing that could be considered good is the art, and even that really isn't spectacular.

Not only that but every single death is meaningless. Robinson doesn't bother introducing the characters before having them killed off, so any drama or emotion that could have come from the deaths is completely absent. The only emotion invoked is anger by fans who liked the characters that got killed off in order to write this piece of garbage. ~~Prometheus~~ Gary Stu is the only character who gets any real panel time before his death, and he's written wildly out of character.

And that's not even getting into the rather unfortunate implications of having a majority of the dead being members of one minority group or another. Or the fact that Freedom Beast's death is treated as being less important than the deaths of a bunch of animals.

If James Robinson wins an Eisner award because of this, it's proof that the Eisner Awards are meaningless. The fact that Robinson was even nominated for one is an insult to all the other writers who were nominated.

Cry for Justice: In Memoriam (SPOILERS)

2010-03-17T18:18:00.000-04:00

James Robinson has gotten a lot of heat for Cry for Justice. Some fans have been particularly outraged by his choice of victims, or rather, the minority status of the characters.

Frankly, I don't think there was anything malicious about his choice of victims. I don't think Robinson is a bigot, racist or sexist. I think it was just crappy writing. But, to be fair, here is a complete list of all the characters who were killed off in Cry for Justice (not counting nameless civilians).

Tony- gay black man (Mikaal/Starman's boyfriend)
Freedom Beast- black South African man
Houngan- black Haitian man (presumed dead)
Clayface- white man
Tasmanian Devil- gay Australian man
Gloss- Chinese woman
Sandstorm- Syrian man
Penny Dreadful- white woman
Arak- Native American man
Endless Winter- white woman
Lian Harper- LITTLE GIRL, also part Vietnamese
~~Prometheus~~ Gary Stu- white man

Note that the only two white men killed are villains. Every other character who dies is either gay, female, non-white or some combination of the three. Of the dead, only ~~Prometheus~~ Gary Stu gets a proper introduction before his death. Everyone else dies within a couple pages of their first appearance (if they appear alive at all).

This adds another level of discomfort and disgust for anyone unfortunate enough to read Cry for Justice. But that doesn't make Robinson a sexist, racist or bigot. And I don't believe for a second that he is a sexist, racist or bigot. James Robinson has a very multicultural, inclusive method for killing off characters

It doesn't matter what their gender, orientation, nationality, ethnicity or age is. No character is safe.

Cry for Justice: Death, Death and More Death (Spoilers)

2010-03-08T20:43:00.000-05:00

You know what annoys me most about Cry for Justice? It isn't just the fact that Robinson killed off a bunch of characters with huge potential. It isn't just the fact that he killed off a sweet, innocent little girl in order to create artificial angst. It's how he killed all these characters.

Only one of the deaths had a character who actually had a chance for the reader to get to know was ~~Gary Stu~~ Prometheus. All the other characters were killed off within a couple pages of their appearance. Hell, I don't remember Lian appearing in a single panel before she died. That's just lousy writing. If you want a death to mean something, you have to get your audience emotionally invested in the character who dies. Your audience won't care about a character they don't know dying. It's angst disguised as drama.

Not only that, but most of these characters were out-of-character in the few moments we saw them before they died. Fans of the characters are going to be (rightfully) ticked, and people who don't know who the characters are aren't going to care.

James Robinson seems determined to kill off, maim or darken every light-hearted and fun character he writes. He's become a Vampiric Writer, shunning all things light-hearted and fun, recoiling from the light, and wallowing in angst, darkness, death and pain.

I said it before, and I'll say it again. I cannot and will not ever be a fan of James Robinson again.

Blackest Night: JSA #1-3 Thoughts

2010-02-27T23:26:00.000-05:00

You know, I get the impression that James Robinson was phoning it in for these comics. What tipped me off wasn't the deus ex machina ending. Or the fact that characters - particularly the women - were acting like morons.

What tipped me off was the mention of "Jamal Thunder". His name is Jakeem. Robinson didn't even bother to get the character's names right. Thirty seconds on Wikipedia would have been enough to prevent that error. There is no excuse for that sort of mistake.

James Robinson just didn't care.

Marvel, Sidekicks and Mutants . . . Oh, my!

2010-02-17T20:04:00.001-05:00

I've read that one of the main reasons that Marvel doesn't tend to have teenage sidekicks is because of the influence of Stan Lee, who dislikes them. However, the fact that Marvel Comics as a whole adopted this policy amuses me.

I can get them not liking the idea of child endangerment. But, frankly, this approach is just silly. The X-Men have had dozens of teenage members. And their death rate is comparable to DC's sidekicks, maybe even worse given the mass "depowerment" of mutants that resulted in plenty of deaths.

And, really, you might as well call the teenage X-Men sidekicks. That is, if the X-Men were actually treated like superheroes. But most of the times, they don't even get to be considered superheroes, because we wouldn't want to mess with the status quo and show mutants gaining more acceptance. (Because we all know that the civil rights movement did absolutely nothing. We still have "white only" water fountains, Jim Crow laws are still in effect, and the idea of actually having a black president is just plain silly.)

But then again, the lack of mutant acceptance is likely due to them tending to cause widespread destruction with their powers and the fact that the "good" mutants are often huge assholes (see Cyclops, Emma Frost, etc.). And which is worse? Being a regular sidekick, or being a teenage X-Man (an unofficial sidekick with just as much danger and having half the universe hate you because they're bigots)?

An Open Letter to James Robinson

2010-02-15T19:58:00.001-05:00

Mr. Robinson:

You have written some excellent comics. I won't deny that. In fact, I've greatly enjoyed your work. But you've developed a bad habit that worries me. I first saw signs of it in Starman #38, when you killed off Blue Devil, Amazing Man and Crimson Fox. I later found out that you had only intended to kill off Crimson Fox, but DC editorial told you to kill off the other two as well.

But it was the beginning of a disturbing trend. Recently, you've killed off quite a few characters, often with little or no introduction. You made Plastic Man - the epitome of a fun-loving, goofy hero - into a depressing, angst-ridden mess.

You brought back the most vile, disgusting villian ever to blight the pages of DC Comics. You killed him off soon afterwards, but his presence was an unwanted taint on the comic. He degraded and derided a character I love. But she defeated him. Her victory should have left her proud and triumphant. Instead, she was left naked and broken.

You congratulate yourself on creating a well-rounded character who happened to be gay, but in that same issue you killed off his partner, destroying a happy couple that you had created.

You took a character whose most prominent trait was putting her family above all else, and you had her killed as she attempted to murder one of her family members.

You reduced two strong, independent women to mere notches on a man's bedpost.

But through all this, I kept telling myself that things would improve. "He's a great writer. Things will get better."

Then you killed one of my favorite characters. Off-panel. You left it open for his eventual resurrection, but it was too late. Even if he is alive and well at the end of the story, his death was the last straw.

I cannot enjoy your writing anymore. You've killed too many, snatched the joy from the characters who survived, made light-hearted characters bleak and taken the fun out of reading about them.

Mr. Robinson, you probably will never read this, but I hope you do. Because I want you to know this: you've lost a fan.

Lady Momus

Edit: I have since learned that the favorite character I mentioned was killed off in another book not written by James Robinson. But that isn't enough to win me back. It seems like every character Robinson has touched lately has ended up dead, angst-ridden or acting out-of-character.

I cannot and will not be a fan of a writer who kills off characters without a thought and doesn't bother to do any research about the characters he writes.

Why the Mutant/Minority Metaphor Doesn't Work

2010-02-13T19:21:00.001-05:00

I'm not a huge Marvel fan, but I do like the X-Men. However, one of the things that always bugs me when I read X-Men books is that some authors seem to think that the treatment of mutants is a perfect metaphor for the unjust treatment of various minority groups.

Yeah. I know the reason that I hate minorities is because they're always blowing city blocks up with their eye beams and chalking up billions of dollars in property damage and injuring/killing civilians every time they fight each other with their super powers.

The "mutant = minority" metaphor is complete BS.

Comparing the fear and hatred that your average Joe in the Marvel Universe has for mutants to the fear and hatred that a real bigot has for a minority is downright offensive. In real life, bigots have no real reason for their hatred and fear of others outside of stupid, superficial things like "they have more/less melanin than I have" or "their ancestors came from a different country than my ancestors." In the Marvel Universe, you would have to be insane not to be wary of mutants, if not downright terrified.

Mutants are perpetually in a state of war with each other. Xavier's Academy was a recruiting station for a private mutant army masquerading as a school. The "students" routinely fought a group of terrorist mutants, causing massive property damage, death and mayhem. Not only that, but most of these battles are not explained to the general populace, so it would be easy to assume that both groups are nothing but super-powered gangs. (And that's not getting into the many times that Xavier screwed around in people's heads in order to keep his private army a secret.)

Mutants - even the heroic ones - routinely ignore laws, and not just the anti-mutant legislation. They behave as if they are above the law, ignoring any law that isn't convenient and not bothering to explain their actions. If you're going a private war in the streets, it's going to hurt your PR if you don't bother explaining that you were attacking a terrorist, mass murderer or any of the other assorted psychopaths that the X-Men routinely deal with.
On top of all that, mutant powers manifest at puberty, which pretty much guarantees that the section of the population with the least amount of self control ends up with abilities that could result in plenty of accidental death and destruction. You'd have to be insane not to be scared of emotionally immature, hormonely driven teenagers with no self control developing super powers.

Edit: Fixed typo.

JSA on Smallville

2010-02-06T13:45:00.000-05:00

I watched Smallville for the first time last night. My dad told me that the JSA was scheduled to appear, so I decided to give the show a chance. (The JSA is my favorite DC team, so I'd probably give any show a chance if they appeared.) Of course, I didn't realize it was a 2-hour event, so I only saw the last half. Here are my thoughts on it:

Who the heck is Chloe? Seriously, I have never heard of this woman before. I'm assuming she was created for the show, because I have no clue who she's supposed to be.

The costumes and special effects are pretty bad. But they're so bad they're good. I laughed when I saw Clark's eye beams. It's like the older live action superhero shows or movies, where the effects are cheesy but the cheesiness is part of the charm. It gives the show a nice "retro" feel.

I love that they got Daniel from Stargate as Hawkman, although I really wish they hadn't gone with such a scratchy voice. He's a good actor, but the voice made it hard for me to take him seriously. And it's strangely appropriate that they got him to do the part, considering that Hawkman's known for being reincarnated, and Daniel was best known for dying and coming back to life.

I like that they included Stargirl, but I spent the whole time bashing the portrayal. For one thing, she's supposed to be 16, and if that actress was 16, I'm Queen of England. At least she's skinny and short, so as long as you didn't look at her face, you could almost pretend she was 16.

I'm sad that Jay didn't appear, although I understand why he didn't. Same reason Alan Scott didn't. If they'd been involved, the threat would have been over before the first commercial break (second, if they'd been taking they're time).

The writers obviously know that the comic reading crowd is an important part of their audience, so they're kind enough to throw in lots of comics references. Kudos for that.

Overall I enjoyed the episode, even if I did get lost at points. I'm curious about the rest of the series, and I'm tempted to watch some more. I'm just not sure if it's worth watching 8 seasons of what appears to be, at its heart, a soap opera starring superheroes.

Damage- The Scott Summers of DC Comics

2010-02-01T20:52:00.003-05:00

Cyclops is well known among comics fans for having a screwed up family tree. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if somehow he ended up being his own grandpa, cousin, son and mother. While I don't think DC has any heroes with a family tree quite that screwed up, I think Damage (Grant Emerson) comes close.

Because as convoluted as Cyclops' family tree is, at least he stuck with 1 mom and 1 dad. Damage has at least 6 mothers and 14 fathers. (Not including foster family.)

Damage was the son of Al Pratt (the Golden Age Atom) and his wife, Mary. Vandal Savage had Mary killed immediately after the birth and then began tinkering with his DNA. Damage received DNA injections from members of the JSA, All-Star Squadron and JLA, which eventually lead to him gaining super powers.

Martian Manhunter ends up being his "principal genetic father" because his Martian shape-shifting DNA is what allowed the mixing of the DNA without Damage dying (although he almost did anyway).

The other DNA "donors" are: two Flashes (Jay and Barry), two Green Lanterns (Alan and Hal), both Black Canarys (mother and daughter), Wildcat, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Hourman I, Dr. Mid-Nite I, Starman (Ted Knight), Ms. America, Johnny Quick, Liberty Belle, Aquaman, and the Atom (Ray Palmer). There are possibly others, although these are the ones specifically mentioned.

With such a screwed up family tree, is it any wonder Damage has issues?

Teen Titans 1, Grant Morrison 0

2010-02-01T00:51:00.000-05:00

I'll be honest. I hate it when politics get brought up in comics. 99% of the time, the writer will misrepresent the opposing viewpoint, end up being preachy, get the facts wrong, or it will interfere with the story.

I like Grant Morrison's writing. I don't believe he's a veritable god of comics like some people seem to think, but he's definitely produced quality material. Animal Man is perhaps one of my favorite series that I've read of his, but it's very preachy at points and it suffers for it. The worst part has to be Animal Man becoming a vegetarian.

I am not a vegetarian, but I have a great deal of respect for people who are willing to completely change their diet in order to do what they believe is right. That shows real commitment to their beliefs. However, Animal Man is a Grade A asshole about the whole thing.

He forces his family to adopt his new eating habits, including his wife. She is noticeably ticked, but he doesn't care and continues to toss out meat in spite of her objections. Later, he lectures his son because his son had the gall to eat a hamburger.

Like I said before, I respect vegetarians. However, I have zero respect for people who attempt to impose their beliefs on others. If you want others to adopt your views, you don't just force them. You talk to them. You tell them what you believe and why, and give them a compelling reason to consider your point of view. Animal Man imposes his beliefs on his wife and kids with no regards for their opinions or beliefs. And the story treats it like this is a good thing!

With all due respect, Mr. Morrison, if I wanted a sermon, I wouldn't be reading a comic. I'd be in church.

Then, on the opposite end of the spectrum is Beast Boy from the Teen Titans animated series. He is a vegetarian because as he puts it in one episode "I've been most of these animals." Which makes sense. I don't think I could look at pork the same way if I'd spent time as a pig.

Although Beast Boy does attempt to win the Titans over to the "soybean-y goodness" of tofu, he's not a jerk about it. If the others are having meat, he'll fix something else for himself, although he will object if the others want to order meat on a pizza that's for all of them. He doesn't harrass them about their food choices, and they don't harrass him about his.

Raven said it best (in response to Beast Boy offering her tofu burgers): "I respect the fact that you don't meat. Please respect the fact that I don't eat fake meat."

Maybe someone should buy Morrison a Teen Titans DVD. He might learn something about respecting other people's beliefs.

This is what happens when I get bored

2010-01-25T22:40:00.000-05:00

No post today. Instead, please enjoy this Guy Gardner sprite I made when I was bored, which I based on some sprites from Final Fantasy VI:

Would it kill DC to institute a ratings system?

2010-01-19T21:47:00.002-05:00

I really wish that DC would start rating their comics. In the past few years of comics reading, I've run into: a hero having his arm ripped off and eaten, Dr. Light raping Sue Dibny, Dr. Light's disgusting conversations about his favorite retconned hobby (rape), another hero having a limb torn off, Wonder Twins expies being attacked and eaten by a demonic Wonder Dog . . . And that's just off the top of my head. I'm sure I'm leaving out plenty more.

I am not a fan of censorship, but it isn't censorship to give a comic a content rating (just like it isn't censorship to rate a movie R). And I really wish they'd give some sort of warning about adult content. If nothing else, so I know whether it's safe to eat anything while reading a comic.

Justice Society thoughts

2010-01-18T21:47:00.000-05:00

I've been enjoying the recent Justice Society stories, but you know what? Not much is happening. I understand the need to build a story slowly, but there's a difference between build up and padding, and we've been getting a lot of padding recently (most noticeably in the heroes get attacked, drive villains away only to have the exact same villains attack the exact same location not long afterward).

The most recent issue had one important event occur (a villain's appearance), and we don't even get to see the resolution to that. The whole issue is pretty much one big internal monologue. A well written monologue, sure, but it doesn't change the fact that nothing really happens.

In summary: Good writing, but lousy pacing.

Random Thoughts: Avatar and Super Heroes

2010-01-09T23:19:00.000-05:00

I saw Avatar recently. One of my first thoughts upon leaving the theater: They need make a superhero movie with these types of effects.

One of the pitfalls that superhero movies fall into - aside from lousy scripts, bad acting and incoherent plots -is bad special effects. Some special effects just simply do not work well when human actors are involved, or the technology isn't there to make them look believable. CGI can solve some of that, but sometimes CGI and live action shots just don't blend well, making the CGI stick out like a sore thumb.

Compare the stretching effects used in Fantastic Four and The Incredibles. In Fantastic Four, Richard Reed's stretching really isn't a very convincing effect, but in The Incredibles, Elasti-Girl's stretching is completely believable because the CGI effect works perfectly in the CGI world of the movie.

I also think that The Incredibles works so well because comic books, even realistically drawn ones, do not come close to matching the real world. There is a cartoonish element to comics. That isn't a bad thing, but it can cause problems when trying to have live actors play out comic book stories. Superhero costumes, mutants with physical mutations, aliens . . . believable enough in CGI or drawn form, but they suffer problems when you try to get special effects to duplicate them.

Of course, my dream would be a Justice League movie with Avatar-level of special effects. Because, if nothing else, Martian Manhunter's powers would be freaking awesome to see.

The True Source of Superhero Angst

2010-01-05T17:24:00.001-05:00

My dad shared with me his theory on why superheroes tend to be angsty. It isn't the effects of dealing with the worst of humanity, the tragic pasts, or the conflict between civilian and superhero identities. The true source is spandex.

Why? Because spandex leads to super-wedgies, which would make anyone moan and groan.

I love my dad.

Comic Shop Joys

2010-01-04T20:02:00.000-05:00

I found a comic book store within 15 minutes of my house! This may sound like no big deal you "city folk," but I live in a small town, so it's a big deal for me. This place is saving me about 30 minutes of travel, and it's actually better than the next closest comic shop. (Not to mention in a better neighborhood.)

I entered the store and the first thing I hear? A discussion about the casting in the upcoming Captain America movie. I couldn't help smiling a little and feel like I was in a place where I belonged. . . (One of the many ways that you can tell I'm a huge nerd.) Apparently there had been rumors that Leonardo Dicaprio might be cast as Captain America . . . thankfully, the rumors have since turned out to be false. Nothing against the guy, but when I think Captain America, the words "pretty boy" do not come up.

I spent awhile browsing the back issue bins, which were neatly sorted. The place was pretty dead, but the owner was friendly, it had a nice selection and it helped me fill in some of the gaps in my collection. I really wish I'd known about this place sooner . . .

I think one of the greatest joys a comic book fan can have is finding a good comic shop close to where they live. It's a joy I had not known . . . until now. ;)

(In all seriousness, it did make my day. That shop just got its newest regular customer.)

Belated/Early Holiday Greetings and Rambling about the DC Comics Encyclopedia

2009-12-28T21:12:00.000-05:00

A Belated Merry Christmas, and an early Happy New Year.

My $&*# external hard drive died over the holidays, taking most of my files with it, including an awesome scan of Ma Hunkel dressed as Santa Claus punching out a burglar in a Santa Claus mask. (Which was, incidentally, going to be my Christmas post.)

Oh, well. At least the hard drive's under warranty.

In an unrelated note, I got the DC Comics Encyclopedia for Christmas. I'm amazed at how bad the editing is. On one page, it says that Dr. Light killed Sue Dibny . . . and on another it says Jean Loring is the killer. How did the editor let such a blatant contradiction slip by? My guess is either laziness or incompetence. Or both. (And that's an error I noticed while flipping through the thing. I haven't even read through the book yet, and I've already noticed at least one other major mistake and several nitpicky ones.)

Come on, DC. I expected better, especially considering the price of the book. Heck, next time you need something edited, let me do it. My vast comics knowledge, nerdiness, and my ability to utilize an amazing resource known as the Internet will result in much better editing than what's displayed in this book. And I guarantee my prices are much more reasonable.

My thoughts on Dr. Arthur Light

2009-12-20T00:07:00.000-05:00

For the most part, I am against the idea that any character is irredeemable. Even the worst characters have the chance of becoming well-rounded and compelling under a good writer. I would say that even the most blatantly stereotypes, bland cardboard cut-outs and hated characters can be saved. 99% of characters are redeemable, if given to a good writer (in terms of being good characters, not in terms of being moral characters). But Dr. Arthur Light? He is in the 1%.

Dr. Light needs to die, die horribly and stay dead. No cameos. No flashbacks. No mentions.

DC needs to treat him like the disgusting piece of garbage he has become and pitch him. DC has been oblivious to the fact that many fans loathe the character. And not in the way that DC intends. He's not a character you love to hate. He's a character that you want to vanish from comics entirely, preferably after a horrendous death.

Ever since he was retconned into being a rapist in Identity Crisis, he has been defined as being a rapist. He has no personality outside of that, and even if he did, his character would be forever tainted by his years as "Dr. McRape."

But rather than try to fix this, writers after Identity Crisis tried to "one-up" his portrayal as a rapist. Since the "rapist" personality has gotten old, they aren't going to make him well-rounded. They'll just do everything we can to make him sicker and more twisted.

He must have more rapes retconned into his past. He must rape a bunch of teens he forces to dress as the Titans. He must turn every conversation to rape. And in the most recent Justice League of America issue . . .

SPOILERS

He must be resurrected as a Black Lantern so he can attempt to rape the female Dr. Light. All while insinuating that's she's a prostitute and that she wants to be raped by him. And mentioning the time they swapped bodies and inviting her to guess what he did with her body. And slowly destroying her clothing until she's left naked. And making threats against her children which I'm sure we're meant to assume mean he's a pedophile as well.

I said it before, and I'll say it again: Dr. Light needs to die, die horribly and - most importantly - stay dead.

Rethinking Justice Society

2009-12-17T21:03:00.000-05:00

I haven't been particularly impressed by Justice Society since Geoff Johns left. But the most recent issue has made me rethink it and the past few issues. (Spoilers in 5, 4, 3, 2 . . .)

I still think the little "filler story" between Johns and the current writer is fairly bad. (Although I'm eternally grateful that it was used to show that, in spite of Grant Morrison's better efforts, Director Bones is still alive and awesome.) The issues after it are flawed, but the story arc is progressing and becoming more interesting as it goes. Mr. Terrific's "death" was lazy, but the fact that the culprit was a character who has been established as a creepy multiple-murderer makes it slightly less cheap.

The split of the team wasn't great, but that seems to be due to editorial mandate rather than the writing team's idea, so I'll let it slide. What can I say? I'm a JSA fan, so in my mind, two Justice Society books are (hopefully) better than one.

The story seemed to quit meandering in the past issue, and it's managed to peak my interest just when I was starting to think the story was going to go in circles. Johnny Sorrow is an awesome villain that I'd like to see more of . . . but his sudden fixation on Stargirl is more than a little creepy. Heck, he was already unbelievably freaking creepy when he was fixated on Sand. And depending on your interpretation, he might have actually raped Sand when he was still a young sidekick. This makes his focus on Stargirl wrong on so many levels. (Wrong, but definitely compelling.)

But why Stargirl? If I recall correctly, she didn't interact with Sorrow at all during the storylines he appeared in. I'm hoping an answer to "why Stargirl" is on the horizon, because I'm getting a little tired of the question going unanswered. Because I can't see a good answer to the question, and if it seems like the writers pulled it out from where the sun don't shine, I'm going to be majorly ticked.

Even though I've spent a good chunk of this post complaining, I'm still feeling more optimistic about the direction that Justice Society is going than I have in a while.

I'm also crossing my fingers about JSA: All Stars. Some of my favorite C-Listers are in that book and I really want to love it. But I couldn't really tell from the first issue if the series is going to be any good. I'm not much for "grim and gritty" so I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Thoughts and Musings about Women Comics Bloggers

2009-12-08T22:21:00.001-05:00

Since I became a comics fan, I've read quite a few blogs, many of which were written by women. Women may be a minority in the comics audience, but from my experience they are a vocal minority. If something ticks them off about a character or a storyline, they are more than willing to let you know. It's great. They are sharing their love of comics with the world and tackling issues that they find important. As far as I'm concerned, the more fans discuss and debate comics, the better the comics community will be for it.

But there's a trend I've noticed with some women comics bloggers. Women in Refrigerators, When Fangirls Attack!, Zamaron . . . maybe it's just the blogs I've read, but it seems like women comics bloggers are focused almost entirely on women's issues. There's nothing wrong with that . . . but I can't see myself ever do that. It's just too limiting. Too restrictive.

There are countless things that you can comment on in comics: plot, character development, the current trends and direction of the comics industry. There are endless amounts of debates to be had: Should Spider-Man have organic web shooters? Are editors overstepping their bounds when they mandate storylines? What's the ideal Justice League line-up? Did the X-Men end up embracing racist thinking when they adopted the "homo superior" talk of Magneto?

Why limit yourself to just "women's issues" when there are so many other issues that are out there to discuss? Why should the be-all and the end-all of the woman comics blogger be women's issues?

If a character is well-written and complex, I don't care if they're a man or a woman. As long as they're a fully-fleshed out character, I'm happy. I didn't care, and in fact didn't notice, that the superheroes on Batman: The Brave and the Bold were outnumbering the superheroines by a huge margin until it was pointed out to me. I was too busy having fun watching the show and geeking out over the appearance of some of my favorite C-Listers. I didn't care what the exact male-to-female hero ratio was as long as the show was good.

I'm sure plenty of people would disagree with me on that. They would argue that there aren't enough women in comics and that it does matter whether that character is a man or a woman. It does matter if there are less female heroes out there than male. That because of this, there should be more focus on women's issues in comics.

That's fine. If they want to blog about women's issues, more power to them. But I'm not going to restrict myself to only a narrow range of issues.

I love comics. I also happen to be a woman. The two have nothing to do with each other.

Edit: Fixed really stupid typo.

Musing about comics and manga

2009-12-03T20:40:00.000-05:00

I love superhero comics. I also love manga. This makes me wonder: how many comics fans are also manga fans? Manga is unlike American comics in many ways, the most prominent being that American comics tend to limit themselves to the niche of superhero comics. But there is manga in pretty much any genre you can name.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that a fan of superhero comics would like manga. If you like seeing superheroes, you aren't going to find many Japanese comics with American-style superheroes . . . or very many with Japanese-style superheroes, since the superhero genre is a tiny percentage of the manga market.

I'm a fan of both American comics and manga, but it isn't because they're so similar. It's because they're so different. Manga and American comics both appeal to me in different ways. I love superheroes, and American comics are loaded with them. I like manga because of the huge variety that it offers. I've read manga in the genre of martial arts, detective fiction, sports, romantic comedy, fantasy . . . Which one I'm reading at any given moment is dependent on my mood.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a fairly big crossover between the American comics and manga audience. I also wouldn't be at all surprised if there were big chunks of both audiences that think the other genre is inherently inferior to their beloved genre.

Something to be Thankful For: Public Domain Laws

2009-11-26T10:06:00.000-05:00

Public domain is a wonderful thing. If you're interested in seeing 1940s Superman cartoons, they are now in the public domain, so they can be freely distributed. In fact, Wikipedia actually links to every episode so you can easily find the one you want to download (or download them all). Just scroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll find a table with the episodes and the download links.

Oh, and no posts over the holiday weekend. I'll be out of town, in a place that has been lost to the mists of time. (In other words, no Internet access.)

Flash: Rebirth #5- What were they thinking?

2009-11-21T14:59:00.000-05:00

Some minor spoilers behind the cut involving a character's new costume.

I've never been a huge fan of Jesse Chambers. But something I've always liked about her is that Jesse has a wonderful trait that most of her female peers lack: the ability to choose a costume based on practicality. She is a practical, no-nonsense type of character who didn't give a damn about showing off her body. She was dressing to be a superhero, not a runway model. Both of her costumes were simple, covered her body (with the exception of her face) and managed to be practical. (No high heels for this superheroine.)

And she gets a new costume that is (I guess) supposed to more accurately reflect her speedster roots. And it fails miserably. Look at it.

A cleavage-exposing, bare legged, short-sleeved costume. For a speedster. The last thing a speedster needs is for *ahem* parts to be flopping around while they run, and leaving any skin exposed that doesn't need to be is a really freaking stupid idea.

Her first costume was much better at honoring her father's legacy. It was modeled after Johnny Quick's, but she modified it, with the most noticeable modification being adding a visor: a simple and practical accessory that could protect from eye injury. Her second costume honored her mother's legacy rather than her father's, but it was just as practical as the first.

The only impractical aspect of either of Jesse's uniforms has been her wearing her hair down as Liberty Belle. And now I'm supposed to believe that she'd willingly change to this costume? Jesse's always been all business and while this costume would fit a lot of other characters personalities, it definitely is contrary to hers.

My only hope is that with the mentions of time travel in this storyline, this costume will be made to have never existed in the first place.

"Turtles Forever" Review

2009-11-21T14:05:00.001-05:00

What do you get when you cross the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shows from 2003 and 1987? Sheer, overwhelming awesomeness, as shown by "Turtles Forever," a direct-to-DVD movie which was aired on CW4Kids today.

Through some means, the 1987 Turtles end up in the dimension of the 2003 Turtles. I missed the first 30 minutes, so I don't know how exactly, and frankly I don't care. Even if the set-up was immensely stupid, the rest of the movie would make up for it. The Turtles, of course, must team up to defeat both sets of villains.

Fans of the older show will be happy to see the villains Shredder, Krang, Bepop, Rocksteady and the Foot Soldiers appear, and enjoy the appearances of Splinter and April as well. Fans of the newer series will also get their version of Shredder, as well as Hun, Karai, Splinter, Casey Jones and April. And of course, both sets of the Turtles.

This is a shining example of what a crossover should be. Whoever wrote this was obviously a fan of both shows, and they treated both casts of characters with respect and kept them in-character throughout. The interaction between the two groups is priceless, with the 2003 group notably annoyed by their goofier counterparts, and the 1987 group poking fun at their overly-serious counterparts.

Even though I've never watched the newer version of the Turtles, I was able to follow the action and keep up with the cast of new characters with almost no confusion, and I suspect the same would be true of people who have watched the 2003 version only. The writers cleverly used the two groups being unfamiliar with each other's worlds as a way to sneak in bits and pieces of exposition, but never enough to distract from the plot or the flow of the story.

Some of the best moments are related to the differences in the two worlds, with the 2003 Turtles being dumb-founded by the 1987 April ("What's with the yellow jumpsuit? Do you work in a car wash in this world?") and the 1987 Turtles reaction to the 2003 Shredder being some sort of alien entity. The 2003 characters are perplexed by the 1987 Turtles occasional asides to the cameras and look around in confusion to try and find the person they're addressing. (One character even yells: "Who do you keep talking to? There's no one there!")

But don't think that the show is all goofiness. There is plenty of action, and there were several moments where I thought "Holy crap. How are they going to get out of that?"

There were times when I thought they were being a little too hard on the 1987 Turtles, but there was one moment that really made up for it. At one point, the 1987 Turtles are warned by the 2003 Turtles that they might die if they go along for a fight. The 1987 characters exchange some glances and then say they're coming.

If you're a fan of either TMNT show, this is well worth watching. Heck, if you're a fan of any incarnation of the Turtles, this is well worth watching, as they sneak in references to the comic and the live action movies as well. It makes me want to dig through my old tapes and watch old episodes of the 1987 series. It also makes me want to check out the newer series, which I initially rejected because they weren't my Turtles.

If this is 4Kids' way of apologizing for their dubs of Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon and One Piece . . . it's not enough. But they're one step closer to earning forgiveness.

Plastic Man Recap: Episode 1- The Weed

2009-11-16T22:00:00.000-05:00

From out of the pages of DC Comics comes the world’s newest and greatest superhero: Plastic Man! He can spring. He can stretch. He can fly. He can bounce. He can change his shape. And he can even dance!

Each week Plastic Man will face the world’s greatest collection of villains.

There’s action. There’s comedy. There’s danger. There’s Penny! There’s bad luck Hula! There’s plenty for everybody on the Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show!

Depending on whether you like corny old cartoons, that little intro could either send a shiver of horror down your spine or cause you to grin in anticipation. Since I have no taste, I'm in the latter category. The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show was on from 1979-1981, having a grand total of 61 episodes.

Which is funny considering that the first 35 were released as Plastic Man: The Complete Collection. In fairness, the show's title changed after that, but I still feel gipped. I paid for the complete collection. Where's my Baby Plas and Plastic Man Family, darn it?

But enough of my whining. Let's dive right into, shall we? (Be warned: this recap is long.)

We open to a guard talking on the phone with his friend Herb. He reassures him that the job is not dangerous, and informs him that he fully plans to slack off and get some sleep while on duty. But an ominous figure is lurking outside. It’s . . . a green hobo in a trenchcoat?

No! It’s The Weed!

The Weed enters through an unlocked window and tears the door off a vault. He pulls out an orange soda which will apparently help him take over the world. He’s confronted by the lazy guard, and the guard assumes he’s a college kid.

“Boy the way these here college kids dress these days.” You know the only people I know of that go around in just a trenchcoat and fedora are flashers. Then again it would make sense if drunk frat boys were disproportionally represented among the flasher demographic, so maybe the guard isn't a complete idiot.

The guard, being not too bright, decides to simply pick up the phone to call for help, because that’s the bright thing to do when you’re confronting someone who just ripped the door off a safe. The Weed shows how truly depraved he is by interrupting the phone call and stuffing the guard in a closet.

The Weed joins his two henchmen outside. The Weed triumphantly announces that with his orange soda, he will be the RICHEST WEED ON EARTH! Um . . . why does the talking weed want money anyway? So he can buy all the fertilizer and Miraclo Gro he wants?

We switch scenes to find the Plastic Jet landing at a gas station to fill its tank. Yes, Plastic Man has his own jet. I actually thought it was him when I first saw the thing. I mean look at it.

Sitting inside the jet are Plastic Man and his two sidekicks: Penny and Hula Hula. It’s really hard to tell who is who, but I’m guessing that Penny’s the one in the skirt, and Hula’s the one with the Hawaiian shirt. Don't quote me on that, though.

Hula goes to check one of the tires, and Penny uses the opportunity to offer Plastic Man two tickets to a rock concert. Being completely clueless, Plastic Man takes the two tickets and wonders whether the Chief will go with him. We are then introduced to the Chief on a viewscreen.

Plastic Man greets her. “Howdy, Chief. It’s me, your rubberband Romeo.” He attempts to invite her to the rock concert, but she’s all business.

The Chief informs Plastic Man that she called because of The Weed. (I love how they keep trying to make "The Weed" sound ominous.) Apparently the orange soda the Weed stole was actually the Atomic Cellular Regeneration Formula, a “super plant grow potion.” Or Miraclo-Gro for short. The Weed intends to blackmail the earth: either he gets all the world’s money and riches, or he’ll destroy the world.

Sadly, simple economics says that once he has all the money, it will no longer be worth anything. But, they can’t just let the Weed get away with his heavily-flawed plan, so Plastic Man, Penny and Hula go to the harbor where the Weed’s ship is.

They arrive as the ship is leaving, and Plastic Man forms into a gangplank so the others can board the ship.

They split up to search for the Weed. However, our villains saw them board. The Weed assures his henchmen that they will be “the only humans in my favor” once he has all the money in the world. The second they leave, however, the Weed calls them fools for believing him. I’ve got to agree. If they were smart, they wouldn’t be taking orders from a talking dandelion.

Rather than do the sensible thing and use actual weapons, the henchmen roll a barrel at Plastic Man, which flattens him but doesn’t actually hurt him. Hula Hula rushes to the rescue only to step onto a skateboard and knock himself and Plas overboard.

Plastic Man gives Hula a lift out of the water to avoid a truck. He then talks underwater - apparently he no doesn't need to breath - and tells the shark: “Trust me, Sharky, I’m impossible to chew.” Plastic Man then gets out of the water, to find Penny and Hula mourning his supposed death. They are delighted to find out he survived. Penny is so happy that she attempts to kiss Plastic Man, who brushes her off.
We switch to the Weed, who is monologuing for about the fourth time, so he doesn’t notice one of his henchmen letting in a waiter with a tray. Guess who’s on the menu?

The Weed slams the lid back down, bangs on it with a spoon and then runs off with his henchmen. The Weed uses the Miracle-Gro to block Plastic Man’s path with a giant grape, while he and his henchmen board a boat with seaweed on it. That can’t be good for their gas mileage.

Plastic Man turns into a boat and attempts pursuit, but the Miracle-Gro causes nearby seaweed to grow and entangle him.

Penny calls the Plastic Jet so they can follow the Weed to his destination: Peru.

We then have a very brief scene with the Weed as he brings a plant-monster to life with lightning. It's a nice, short Frankenstein homage, but the scene ends before we get a glimpse of his creation.
Plastic Man, Penny and Hula Hula arrive in Peru, but have no clue what to do since they don’t know where the Weed is hiding. Hula comes up with a brilliant plan: “I’ll just find someone I know and get the local gossip.” While Plastic Man and Penny note how unlikely this is, within seconds, Hula runs into Sam Rodriguez, an old friend of his.

So now we know why Plastic Man keeps someone called “Bad Luck Hula” around. He may be unlucky, but he’s very well connected. Sam knows that the Weed has a plantation outside of Lima, so they take off in the Plastic Jet to find him. Plastic Man goes after the Weed, leaving Penny and Hula with the Jet. Plastic Man pole-vaults onto the roof and sneaks in through the chimney.

Back at yet another monologe, the Weed is being watered by his henchmen. He plans to destroy Lima as an example. Plastic Man is too late to stop the Weed’s creation.

The plant attacks the Plastic Jet, and Plastic Man attempts to cut them free, but is unable. He gets thrown through the air and lands hundreds of feet away in a bunch of mud. Thankfully, Penny is not your usual 70s love interest. Penny is actually intelligent. She turns the engines on full blast and breaks free of the plant without Plastic Man's help.

We then get what may be the only showering scene from a 70s superhero cartoon as Plas scrubs the mud off under a waterfall.

The plant comes after him, but turns away with no explanation, even though it has him cornered. Penny is relieved and prepares to land the plane so they can get Plas.

“Let’s pick up my fantastic, elastic lover boy.” Penny, are you sure you’re allowed to say that on TV? Oh, but it gets even better. Plas’s response? “Penny, you always give me a lift."

Excuse me. I think I need a minute to quit laughing.

After that little bit of sneaking crap past the censors, Plastic Man goes to the police so Lima can be evacuated. Strangely, they don’t believe that a giant plant created by a talking weed is coming to destroy the city. Sounds like a perfectly reasonable story to me, but I guess the police in Peru don’t read nearly as many comics as I do.

Back at The Weed’s plantation, the Weed is being trimmed by one of his henchmen while watching TV. He sees a news report of Lima’s destruction and Plastic Man’s defeat at the tendrils of the giant plant-monster. The Weed is overjoyed.

“Pete! Moss! Prepare my copter!” Hey, don’t blame me. I didn’t name the henchmen.

But what’s this? The city is still standing when the Weed arrives? Yes, apparently, the news report was faked by Plas and friends. Plastic Man tries to get the Weed to stop the plant since he’s now in the path of destruction, but the Weed refuses and bolts.

Plastic Man easily takes out the henchmen and goes after the Weed. The Weed goes to a construction site, but after a brief fight, Plastic Man drops the Weed into a cement mixer. Plastic Man again tries to get the Weed to tell them how to stop the plant, but he still refuses.

The Chief calls to ask if they’ve caught the Weed, threatening that Plastic Man will be all washed up if he doesn’t stop the plant-monster.

Penny again shows that she’s the sidekick with the brains, mentioning how the plant turned away when Plastic Man was washing up at the waterfall. Yes, apparently this plant-monster is weak against . . . WATER!

Plastic Man turns into a hose, hooks himself up to a fire hydrant and sprays the plant-monster. It melts the plant into a tiny puddle of green goo within seconds. Well, that was anticlimatic.

The Weed, Pete and Moss are taken into custody by the police, and Plastic Man is thanked.

The group prepares to leave, as Hula eats a salad. Plastic Man warns him to “watch out that the plants in there aren’t alive.” Hula looks down at the salad nervously before tossing it in the trash. He asks if they can get a cheeseburger before they leave. “Cheeseburgers don’t attack you, do they?”

Penny and Plastic Man share a laugh, and the credits roll. Well, actually they don’t since I’m watching this on DVD and they cut the credits out . . . but you get the picture.

Tune in next time for Episode 2: Dr. Irwin and Mr. Meteor!

Plastic Man Episode Index

2009-11-14T23:00:00.003-05:00

Beneath the cut is an episodes list for the The Plastic Man Adventure/Comedy Show. Why am I posting it? Because I'm planning on recapping the episodes. Maybe not all of them, but I'd like to post enough recaps to give people a good idea about what the show's like.

I'd like to write recaps for them all, but I'm not going to commit myself to 35 episodes worth of recaps. (Not counting the 26 Baby Plas and Plastic Family episodes, which were apparently not included in the Plastic Man: Complete Collection DVDs. I hate false advertising . . .)

This list will function as an index for my recaps, and I'll link to the recaps as I write them. If nothing else, it's worth a look for the corny, pun-filled titles. And the amazing amounts of alliteration and assonance.

The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show
1- The Weed
2- Dr. Irwin and Mr. Meteor
3- Wham Bam, Beware of the Clam
4- The Day the Ocean Disappeared
5- The Horrible Half-Ape
6- Hugefoot
7- The Miniscule 7
8- Moonraider
9- Superstein
10- Dog Master
11- Diabolical Dr. Dome
12- Honey Bee
13- The Dangerous Dr. Dinosaur
14- The Spider Takes a Bride
15- Empire of Evil
16- The Corruptible Carrotman
17- The Maniacal Computerhead
18- The Hippotist
19- Badladdin
20- Toyman
21- Ghostfinger
22- Highbrow
23- The Kitty Katt Caper
24- The Colossal Crime of Commodore Peril
25- Terrible 5+1
26- Joggernaut
27- Dr. Duplicator Strikes Again
28- Thunderman
29- Count Graffiti Meets Plastic Man
30- Sale of the Century
31- Plastic Mummy Meets Disco Mummy
32- City of Ice
33- Plastic Man Meets Plastic Ape
34- The Crime Costume Caper
35- The Royal Gargoyle Foil

Baby Plas
1. Introducing Baby Plas
2. The Abominable Snow Sport
3. Baby Plas' Finny Friend
4. The Big, Big Crush
5. Ali Baba Baby
6. Mighty Museum Mess
7. Rustin' Rascals
8. Calamity Cruise
9. Who Undo The Zoo
10. Ozark Family Feud
11. Dr. Strangeleaf
12. Kewpie Doll Capers
13. Rodeo Ruckus

Plastic Family
1. Bad Luck Stroll
2. Baseball Bully
3. Haircut Headache
4. Witchin' Worries
5. Tiger Trouble
6. Clubhouse Calamity
7. Babysitter Blues
8. Sleepwalking Snafu
9. Birthday Blowout
10. Movie Mischief
11. Tropical Trouble
12. Frognapped
13. Mummy Madness

No More Event Comics

2009-11-13T21:04:00.001-05:00

As of today, I'm swearing off event comics. From henceforth, I refuse to buy any event comic until they come out in TPB. Probably not even then. I may still flip through them or look at scans posted online, but I'm not paying a penny for them until they're in TPB format.

Why?

There have simply been too many event comics, one after the other after the other. I no longer care about how much Final Crisis of Infinite Doom is going to "CHANGE THINGS 4 EVAR!" Because it's a freaking lie. Crisis on Infinite Earths forever changed the DC Universe. It was what an event comics should be: epic, world-shattering and incredibly well-written. The entire DC Universe is measured by whether an event happened pre-Crisis or post-Crisis. None of the recent event comics can claim anything like that.

Event comics are rarely anything but an attempt to boost sales, with the storyline being of secondary importance . . . if it ranks that high. But no one seems to learn. Readers continue buying event comics in droves regardless of how horrible they turn out to be.

Comic companies should be focusing on making their regular titles as good as possible. Event comics are a distraction from that goal. Event comics continually sabotage the regular titles by forcing the writers to drop everything in order to tie in to the latest event, completely ruining the story flow and derailing the plots the writers have been working on.

Maybe the next event will be different. Maybe it will be the next Crisis on Infinite Earths. But I think that's about as likely as my blog becoming the next Internet phenomenon. Or the devil giving free sleigh rides in hell.

Overanalyzing Comics Details: Judomaster's Power

2009-11-08T22:00:00.000-05:00

The current Judomaster has an unusual power: she can't be hit by attacks specifically aimed at her. Explosions and unaimed attacks can hit her, but not if you're actually aiming at her.

However, I have to wonder if she couldn't be easily taken down by someone using a more "defensive" martial art like aikido. Aikido focuses on using your opponents attacks against them, heavily emphasizing throws and holds. Rarely are actual attacks used. So, in theory, you should be able to take her down simply by using her own momentum against her or putting her in some sort of hold.

Since she's used to not being able to be hit, she probably isn't the greatest martial artist. She never actually has to worry about enemies hitting her, so she can just wail on them with impunity. That would lead to sloppy form as well as an extreme level of overconfidence.

She also seems to think that judo consists entirely of kicks, so that further supports my theory that she can't be that great a martial artist.

Nitpicking Judomaster

2009-11-07T18:09:00.000-05:00

I'll have to admit that I'm not much for Judomaster. Mostly because I know almost nothing about her personality. Johns at least gave us some basic idea about the characters that he introduced in Justice Society of America, but Judomaster was the least developed. I've heard she appeared in Birds of Prey, and maybe she was a three-dimensional character there, but judging by Justice Society, she's a cardboard cutout.

I'm willing to cut her some slack since she's shown the ability to look beyond physical appearances. (Judging by her relationship with Damage.) I know pretty much nothing about her personality aside from that, but oh well. At least I know she isn't shallow.

However, two (nitpicky) things about her bug me.

1) Her constant high-kicks. Judo focuses on throws and holds, not kicking. But it seems that the only thing she does in fights is kick. If her name was "Kickboxing Master" it would work, but it doesn't fit someone named Judomaster.

2) Her name. Sonia Sato. Sato is a common Japanese surname. Sonia, however, is not a Japanese name. You could write it with Japanese characters, but that doesn't make it Japanese. If she's supposed to be American, then I wouldn't take much issue with that, since Sonia is a common enough name in English. But she's portrayed as Japanese, so she should have a Japanese name, darn it!

Golden Age Comics- What They Got Right

2009-11-04T22:50:00.000-05:00

I've decided that there is one thing that is desperately lacking in today's world of comics. Something that was prevalent in the Golden Age: comics with several, unrelated stories.

Action Comics

By having several stories within a single book, it allowed readers to get exposed to a variety of different stories and it also served as a way of testing which heroes would be popular and sell. This could lead to a character getting their own book in addition to their short stories within the book. (For example, Plastic Man continued to appear in Police Comics even after he received his own book.)

But you rarely even see a book with a backup feature, let alone five or six stories in a single book. This is sad because today's comics writers have almost completely lost the ability to tell short, self-contained stories. It is also a shame because it would be an excellent way for a comics company to test the water. Have a lesser known hero who a writer wants to tell stories about? Give them a short feature within the compilation book. If the feature receives positive reactions from readers, launch a series for that character. If not, replace the short feature with another.

If nothing else, the novelty of buying one comic with several stories would probably ensure that such a series would be successful. Especially if fan favorite characters that don't have their own books currently were featured. The fact that there would be several different stories each issue would likely increase the price of the comic, but it would also increase the number of people willing to give it a chance. Don't like the Plastic Man story? Then read the Red Tornado one instead. Or the Huntress one.
and Adventure Comics (among others) would have six or more stories every week, each about a different hero. The popular heroes continued to get their stories told, while the less popular ones were replaced by new heroes.

Types of Writers Epilogue

2009-11-02T22:00:00.034-05:00

In my past six posts, I examined 6 types of writers that appear in comics. With the possible exception of the Mind-Screw Specialist, all of them have one thing in common. They have forgotten an essential truth of comics: Comics are supposed to be fun.

When I read a comic, I read it because I have grown attached to the world of the comic and the characters within that world. I don't read comics to see my favorite characters killed without ever being mentioned again. I don't want fun characters to be turned into brooding anti-heroes. I don't want to see them behave in ways that contrict their previous characterization because a lazy writer didn't bother to research them or simply didn't care.

I don't want characters to be slaughtered by writers who see them as nothing but cannon fodder. For teammates to not be allowed to grow and develop into a coherent team, learning to work with their teammates even if they dislike them. Not fighting and squabbling over nothing in order to create artificial "drama." I don't want light-hearted characters to be subjected to trauma or poor writing because light-heartedness has been equated with being "less mature."

I want to see the characters I love work through their problems. For them to fight for what is right, even if they sometimes struggle to determine what the right thing is. I want to see them grow and mature. If they must die, I want their deaths to have meaning. I want them to leave a lasting mark on me; I want readers who never heard of them to be impressed and moved by their deaths.

I guess what I'm saying is this: I want to enjoy the comics I read, not feel depressed afterwards. Comics don't have to be light-hearted. I am willing to both laugh and cry with my comics. But I want to be with characters through both their ups and downs. Not just their downs.

Types of Writers, Part 6- The Vampiric Writer

2009-11-01T20:27:00.000-05:00

In this last post of the "Types of Writers" series, we will examine the Vampiric Writer. (And, no, I don't mean Anne Rice.)

The Vampiric Writer, like the vampires they are named for, shun the light. However, rather than literal light, they recoil from light-heartedness like a vampire recoils from a cross. Vampiric Writers believe that the only good storylines are dark storylines. Expect lots of brooding characters, dark themes and downer endings.

It is common for a reader to feel depressed after reading through the work of a Vampiric Writer, who have an unnatural knack for sucking all the fun out of the cherished characters of their childhood. Vampiric Writers don't just shun the light, they see it as negative. The light is what reduces the comic character in their mind: making them impossible to take seriously. They mistake a positive outlook, sense of humor or optimism for hopeless idealism, which has no place in the world of their stories.

Any light-hearted character who appears in a Vampiric Writer's work is normally destined to one of four bleak fates: 1) death, 2) some form of trauma to allow the character to "escape" the lightheartedness that is holding them back as a character, 3) character derailment that wipes away the lightheartedness, or 4) their humor becoming inexplicably dark for the duration of their appearance. While the last two are usually easily redeemed by a less depressing writer, the last two can leave lasting scars upon once fun characters. (See Ralph and Sue Dibny.)

While some Vampiric Writers are also Bloody Writers, it is important to note that a Vampiric Writer does not require blood and gore for their storylines to be dark (although they may be present). Emotional suffering is all a Vampiric Writer needs to tell their story, while Bloody Writers require physical suffering.

Types of Writers, Part 5- Mind-Screw Specialists

2009-11-01T20:12:00.000-05:00

Since I've gone several days without posting, there will be two more "Types of Writers" posts tonight (including this one).

Without further ado, let's examine the Mind-Screw Specialist.

Have you ever finished a comic and suddenly know what it’s like to be high . . . and you’ve never done drugs in your life? You just read the work of a Mind-Screw Specialist. The Mind-Screw Specialist has the amazing ability to translate what drug-induced hallucinations would be like onto the comics page. However, the Mind-Screw Specialist relies heavily on the artist working with them, since a truly “trippy” comic pretty much requires trippy visuals.

Being a Mind-Screw Specialist isn’t necessarily bad or good, but it is an acquired taste for many readers. Mind-Screw Specialists often have confusing and hard to follow plots, difficult to decipher symbolism and just plained “messed up” storylines. The best Mind-Screw Specialists will include so much symbolism and tantalizing bits of information that people will be analyzing their work for years to come. The worst will simply leave the reader wondering what the heck the writer was smoking.

The important thing to remember when dealing with a Mind-Screw Specialist is this: it is not the destination that is important but the trip that got you there.

Types of Writers, Part 4- The Artiste

2009-11-01T20:08:00.000-05:00

Today, we will examine the Artiste.

The Artiste sees their comic books, as transcending everything else in the medium. While the other books are complete garbage, the Artiste’s comic is a work of art. Everything within their comic combines into a beautiful tapestry of symbolism and storytelling . . . at least, in their own minds. Their perception of the quality of their work is independent of the actual quality, which may range from inspired to obtuse to mind-numbingly bad. The Artiste is characterized by extreme narcissism, arrogance, and a complete obliviousness to any and all flaws they or their works possess.

There are 3 types of The Artiste, classified by their reaction to criticism. The 3 types are: the Vindictive, the Passive Aggressive and the Patronizer.

The Vindictive will respond to any and all criticism to flames and vicious ad hominem attacks. Their work is perfect, and any criticism is seen as a personal insult, regardless of how mild the criticism was or how much the person brown nosed them before bringing it up. The Vindictive is like a 2-year old child throwing a tantrum, in that they rarely actually address legitimate points and show all the maturity of a toddler. The Vindictive may be sugary sweet to anyone willing to heap them with endless praise, but they are brutally aggressive to everyone else.

A non-comics example of the Vindictive would be Uwe Boll. Boll challenged his critics to a boxing match, so he’d have a reason to violently beat the spit out of them without worrying about jail time or lawsuits. However, most of the Vindictive Artistes stick to verbal assaults and only fantasize about the physical ones.

The Passive Aggressive, much like the Vindictive, holds all critics in utter disdain. They just happen to be slightly less vehement about it, preferring passive aggressive comments to calling their critics every swear word in the book. Expect their responses to be catty but less blatantly rude than their Vindictive counterparts.

The Patronizer, unlike the other two types, can actually be fairly friendly, but still incapable of noticing even the most glaring flaws of their work. They tend to be gently patronizing with as they explain why the critic is wrong, like a patient adult explaining something to a 4-year old. Whether this is more or less annoying than being flamed is a matter of personal taste.

Types of Writers, Part 3- The Pastor-Writer

2009-10-26T22:10:00.002-04:00

Today we will examine the third type of comic book writers I will be showcasing: The Pastor-Writer.

Pastor-Writers are writers with a tendency to interject their political, ethical and religious views into their writing. Frequently, their characters will coincidentally hold the exact viewpoint as the writer, regardless of whether this fits in with the character’s previous portrayals. They will not only hold these viewpoints, but feel the need to give sermon after sermon about their pet issues. This may lead to unintentionally hilarious contradictions, such as a character that gains their power from the animal kingdom preaching vegetarianism.

Frequently, the main character will be written as if they were Moses with their opinions hand-crafted by God. They are always right, and anyone with opposing viewpoints will be shown to not only be wrong, but be treated as if they are not only stupid, but immoral.

Some writers manage to avoid becoming Pastor-Writers, but still give their character similar political views to themselves. They do this by showing that their character is far from perfect and capable of being wrong. Another way to avoid it would be to treat the opposing viewpoint with respect, but that rarely happens when politics and religion are involved.

Pastor-Writers are not necessarily bad writers. In fact, many are only allowed to get away with it because they are good writers. They just have an unfortunate habit to derail the plot for so they can give the readers a 5-page lecture on U.S. foreign policy that is completely irrelevant to their story. Fans of their stories will either agree with the authors’ views, or will be willing to put up with it because the rest of the story is interesting.

Types of Writers, Part 2: Character Assassins

2009-10-25T22:30:00.009-04:00

Today, we will be examining another type of writer that appears within the comics industry: Character Assassins.

Character Assassins, unlike Bloody Writers, do not necessarily wade in neck deep gore. Rather, their speciality is to destroy the characters within the story. When you see Black Canary suddenly become entirely ineffectual in a fight - in spite of being one of the top martial artists in the DCU - you can be almost certain that you've found a Character Assassin.

Character Assassins tend to either show apathy towards or ignorance of any previous characterization. A character previously willing to die rather than kill an enemy will suddenly be committing murder without a moment's hesitation. A cheerful, fun character will suddenly become dark and brooding. An intelligent character will suddenly act like they could lose on Jeopardy with their opponents being a moldy tomato and a particularly intelligent gnat.

Character Assassins will mangle a character's personality, but strangely this is not always to make the character "worse." A reasonably intelligent character will suddenly become knowledgable in all areas of science, mathematics and logic, and will always be right, no matter how absurd or counter-intuitive their ideas may seem. Dumb characters will become smart, poor fighters will become black belts, insensitive jerks will become sweet as honey. A good fighter will suddenly be unbeatable, regardless of the relative power levels of the individuals involved. (Batman's quasi-mythical ability to "beat any opponent, given time to prepare" is the logical extension of this particular trait. Whether this was the work of a Character Assassin or is simply a Fanon theory is up for debate.) The key aspect of these shifts is that they are sudden (often occuring the first instant the writer gets hold of the character) and they are unexplained.

There are two main types of Character Assassins: Type A and Type I.

The Type A Character Assassin are characterized by apathy. They simply don't care about the character's history. They have a story they want to tell, and if it requires Wonder Woman to suddenly hate every person with a "Y" chromosome (in spite of her deep friendships with many of her male colleagues), so be it. They don't care that a character was once reasonably intelligent and a bit of a flirt: now they are the village idiot who is willing to engage in sexist behavior that could get you sued, if not arrested.

The Type I Character Assassin is characterized by ignorance. They honestly have no clue about character history. They picked up an issue of Who's Who, saw a character that "looked cool" and decided to write about them, often knowing nothing more than the name and appearance of the character (and sometimes not even that). They are the type of writers who learn that a character is a monk and portray them as a devout Catholic when the character is in fact a Zen Buddhist. They didn't intend to grossly misrepresent the character: they simply were unaware of their history.

Like Type A, Type I Character Assassins will often display apathy towards learning about character history. The key difference is that Type I Character Assassins rarely will contradict previous events that they know about (or bother to find out about); Type A just don't give a rat's behind.

Type I are more likely to recover from their Character Assassin ways as they learn about comics history, and may one day leave their Character Assassin ways behind as they develop as a writer. Type A Character Assassins rarely, if ever, do.

The main difference between a Character Assassin and a writer who employs character growth is whether a reason for the personality shift is given, and whether the shift is allowed to occur over a period of time. If a gruff, unapproachable character slowly warms up to their teammates over the course of a 20-issue run but retains their gruff demeanor with others, this is likely character growth rather than character assassination. If the same individual suddenly becomes an insufferable jerk to their friends again with no explanation or reason, it is likely the work of a Character Assassin.

Types of Comics Writers, Part #1: Bloody Writers

2009-10-24T23:20:00.001-04:00

In my next few posts, I will be showcasing some of the types of comics writers. Please note that these are archetypes. Few writers will always fit within a given category, but many writers will fit within a particular category more often than not. Also, these types are not exclusive. A writer may fit within several types, and some of these categories will involve quite a bit of overlap. The first type of comic book writer we'll be examining is: Bloody Writers.

[Some disturbing (written) imagery to follow.]

If your reading a comic book that involves characters having their arm ripped off and eaten by an enemy or a demonic dog eating a comic relief character, you've stumbled onto the work of a Bloody Writer.

The work of Bloody Writers is characterized by extreme violence, blood and gore. They show the disturbing tendency to put gore and death above good storytelling. Expect lots of deaths, gore, and anti-"heroes" who engage in graphically brutal fights and interrogations that would make terrorists who hack off limbs look tame.

Death is only one of the weapons within the Bloody Writers arsenal. Character torture is a device often employed by these writers, and this extends far beyond physical torture. Emotional and psychological torture is often intermingled with the physical torture.

These writers seem to follow the philosophy "more gore = better story," forgetting that if you submerge the audience in seven feet of blood and entrails, they are unlikely to even notice two or three more drops of blood added to the mess. Bloody Writers must periodically "take things up a notch" because their audience inevitably will become bored after the seventh or eighth decapitation. More blood and gore will be added. More realistic wounds. More disembowelment and dismemberment. Sadism. Murder. Cannibalism. Rape.

Fun and light-hearted characters are among Bloody Writers most consistent victims, as Bloody Writers tend to exhibit the attitude that any hero who is not currently suffering must suffering horribly in order to achieve character "growth" . . . which tends to be a euphemism for "a willingness to torture, maim and kill enemies."

"Heroes" will almost universally be anti-heroes (with the "hero" part being extremely dubious), and frequently all that separates the heroes from their enemies is that their enemies are willing to take things one step beyond what the "heroes" are. Humor will almost universally be dark.

Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show Profiles

2009-10-23T20:58:00.002-04:00

Here's a quick rundown of the main characters of the old Plastic Man TV show. I haven't watched all the episodes yet, so some of this information may be a little off. Some spoilers will follow. (In case anyone really cares about a really old superhero cartoon being spoiled . . .)

Plastic Man- The hero of the story. His personality is based more off the Golden Age than anything, which is quite a bit different from the Modern Age interpretation. He isn’t silly because of his personality, but because of the shapes he takes. His tongue is planted firmly in cheek throughout the series. He can stretch into pretty much any shape, and he uses this in a variety of ways. He is shown to be some sort of government agent, and is sent on missions all around the world to stop various villains. (This is in line with his Golden Age portrayal as a FBI agent.)

The fact that he is a former criminal is never mentioned, presumably to prevent children from becoming crooks in the hopes of a security guard shooting them, having acid poured on the gunshot wound and thus gaining the same powers as Plastic Man.

Penny- At first she seems to be there as the token love interest (which she is). Plastic Man is blind to her attraction to him, and far more interested in the Chief in the earlier episodes. Penny appears useless at first glance, but she is shown to be more competent than the standard love interest of the time. She is the pilot of the jet that they fly around in (giving her a legitimate reason to come along on dangerous missions). She proves that she’s at least reasonably observant and intelligent, although she acts like an idiot at times because of her crush on Plastic Man. Later, she ends up married to Plastic Man and they have a baby.

Yes, you read that properly. Plastic Man marries her, and they have a baby.

Hula Hula- Takes the place of Woozy Winks from the comics. Bumbling sidekick of Plastic Man, who has notoriously bad luck. Apparently, the producers were forced to make him a minority that “wasn’t currently represented in cartoons.” In a lot of ways, he has Woozy’s bumbling personality. However, the “race lift” makes him a bit uncomfortable to watch, since like all minorities in this age of superhero cartoons, he is forced to say nonsensical lines based on stereotypes, such as “leaping lava” and odd references to pineapples. His main contribution to the group is his inexplicable ability to meet old friends no matter where on Earth they are. Otherwise, he's probably the most worthless good guy.

The Chief- Plastic Man’s boss. She gives Plastic Man his orders and appears to work for the government. In what position is never really said, but if it’s anything like the comics, she’s the director of either the FBI or a special branch of the FBI. Plastic Man has a crush on her which she does not reciprocate. The Chief is all business and if she does notice that Plastic Man likes her, she ignores it in favor of making sure that their jobs get done. She normally contacts them through a videoscreen in their jet or through Plas's communicator watch.

There are also a couple of cool toys that Plastic Man and friends use:

Plastic Jet- The jet that Plastic Man, Penny and Hula Hula fly around in. It’s painted like Plastic Man’s costume, so the first time I saw it I honestly thought that it was Plastic Man. Penny is the pilot.

Plastic Communicator Watch- A watch that Plastic Man wears that allows him to talk to the chief. Matches Plas’s costume. (It’s never actually called this, but that’s what it is.)

Plastic Man DVD

2009-10-20T18:55:00.000-04:00

Plastic Man: The Complete Collection is out on DVD! For those of you who've never heard of it, it's a Super Friends-era cartoon starring Plastic Man. (The full title of the show was The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show, but they apparently decided that was too long for the DVD cover.) I've seen some episodes on Youtube and I'm a huge Plastic Man fan, so I couldn't wait to buy it.

I'd highly recommend it if you're a Plastic Man fan. Although, be warned, it is a Super Friends-era cartoon, so it is extremely corny with tongue in cheek humor, and some really bad puns. I have no taste, so I eat that kind of stuff up. Your own tastes may differ.

Cry for Justice and Robinson's Rambling

2009-10-20T18:47:00.000-04:00

Why is DC giving James Robinson five pages to pat himself on the back in Cry for Justice? Seriously. At the end of every issue, he gets five pages to talk about character history and his creative process, but it's mostly just tooting his own horn. (In his defense, he does brown nose Grant Morrison for a little while before turning back to the important subject: himself.)

Normally, writers have to wait until the TPB to prattle on like this, or make due with a single page of their thoughts (if they're lucky). If Cry for Justice was a great series - heck, if Cry for Justice was a good series, I might cut him some slack. But it's not, so I'm not. No writer should be given this much time to talk in a comic unless they earn it.

The worse part of all this is that Cry for Justice is apparently going to have a "resounding impact on the DCU." That and it's going to lead into Robinson's run on Justice League. So apparently, we're going to get lots of "heroes" who use immoral means (torture, murder), characters who die without even being properly introduced (three so far) and characters who get their personalities mangled. The most annoying thing for me is the shock deaths, since I liked one of the characters killed. Heck, I never liked the other recently deceased, and I'm still ticked at how cheap his death was.

Is the whole "killing off characters for shock value without properly introducing them" something that's Robinson's always done, or did he only start doing that recently? I can't imagine that his Starman run would be so universally praised if he used such a cheap story-telling technique frequently. But then again he killed off Blue Devil, Crimson Fox and Amazing Man in a Starman issue that Starman didn't even appear in.

Top 5 Things That Will Make Me Drop a Comic (Aside from Terrible Writing)

2009-10-15T21:00:00.000-04:00

In no particular order, the Top 5 Things That Will Make Me Drop a Comic:

1) Writers on soapboxes. I do not care if you are a Republican, Independent, Democrat, or Communist. I pick up comics to read stories, not to here your diatribe against a political figure or policy. If you can't write about politics in such a way that doesn't paint all your opponents as immoral, baby-eating scum then you shouldn't be writing about politics. (And, really, if you want to write about politics, and you're in the comics industry, you're in the wrong line of work.)

2) Killing off characters for shock value (especially minor characters). This is a symptom of bad writing. While deaths can be written well, 99/100 they are written poorly and for cheap drama. Not to mention that the only people that will care when you kill some obscure character are the fans of that character. And they will be ticked that you did it.

3) Ignoring continuity. Continuity exists for a reason. It is the glue that holds a story together. I'll agree that some stories probably need to be retconned, but ignoring continuity for no other reason than you feel like it is bad writing. And not bothering to look up a character's history is even worse. This is the age of the Internet. You can learn all you ever wanted to know about a character and more if you're willing to spend a few minutes with a search engine. You have no excuse.

4) Non-stop angsting. Angsting within a story is fine. Angsting that stops the flow of the story is not. If a whole issue goes by and the hero has done nothing but whine, I'm probably going to quit reading the series. If the character does nothing in their series but whine and mope about having superpowers and dating some of the most attractive people in existence, I'm going to call the character an emo git and then quit reading. (Well, maybe. It depends on whether the other X-Men are doing something interesting.)

5) Antiheroes. Why? Because most of the time they are not heroes. They're just a-holes who happen to be slightly smaller jerks than the bad guys they're fighting. Trying to find a decently written antihero who is actually somewhat heroic is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Are Event Comics Inherently Evil?

2009-10-11T21:56:00.001-04:00

I have come to the conclusion that event comics are inherently bad. Now, don't get me wrong. Some event comics are true gems with wonderful art, compelling storylines and memorable characters. These are the minority. It's like finding an honest politician. In theory, some have existed, but their numbers are so few that no one believes you when you actually manage to find one.

Crisis on Infinite Earths was an amazing event comic. 52 was pretty darn good (although I think it's slightly over-rated). Sins of Youth was fun and vastly entertaining, but it was hardly earth-shattering. Other good event comics? Well, I'm drawing a blank sadly. (And I refuse to include Final Crisis because the stupid tie-ins and spin-offs won't let the thing end.)

Here are problems that event comics frequently run into (and the reason that they should be incredibly rare):

1) Inconsistency- The more writers you involve in a single work, the more likely you are that inconsistencies will occur. This is true with both the artwork and the story itself. Characters personality, motives and appearances may vary greatly from issue #1 to issue #2. It's one thing for a book to get a new writer after a 20 issue run on a series, but it's quite another for writers to be changing within a single event comic that only lasts ten issues. (Plus the obligatory 20 tie-ins.)

2) Editorial Mandates- Sadly, in current comics, it is the editors who are determining what happens in the event comics. They tell the writers what they want, and the writers have to try and find something good within the lousy fanfiction they are given. Editors do this rather than doing their JOBS, and EDITING the stories that the writers write.

3) Poor/No Editing- Editing of event comics seems to have become non-existent. Probably because the editors are too busy writing to edit. Stupid editing mistakes that a 6-year old would laugh at are let through. This is one of the reasons why there are so many stupid mistakes in Amazons Attack and Countdown.

4) Plot Derailment- Event comics, by their very nature, have multiple characters in them from multiple books. This means that every plot line in every book must be temporarily derailed so they can have a tie-in to the latest event comic. It's faintly unnerving at best, but more often than not, it destroys all tension and momentum the story had. And it also creates confusion on the part of the reader. It makes the reader feel like the comic's company is playing Keep Away with the plot.

"Do you want to understand what's going on? Huh? Do you? Do you? Well, then go buy the issues of the event comic plus the 20 some odd tie-ins!"

5) Too Many Event Comics- Event comics are omni-present. Every time you turn around, another is beginning, and few accomplish anything that lasts beyond that event comic. There have been so many recently, that I'm sick of them.

Event comics used to be huge, earth-shattering events, but they seem to have become huge wastes of paper. Countdown ran for 52 issues, plus about a dozen tie-in books. Can you name a single thing it accomplished? (Pointless character deaths and derailments do NOT count.)

Justice League: Cry for Justice #4

2009-10-09T23:29:00.000-04:00

I am really starting to loathe Cry for Justice. Before issue #4, I merely dismissed it as a mediocre attempt to prove that DC Comics was REALLY KEWL because they have people dying and heroes acting like a-holes. However, it got worse. Spoilers behind the cut.

One of the biggest pet peeves I have in comics is killing off obscure heroes or villains for the purpose of shock value. Why? Well, a lot of my favorite characters are B- and C-Listers. Also, what's the point of killing off an obscure character without bothering explaining who they are? None of the readers will care . . . with the exception of the fans of the character, who will get angry and post about it on their blogs.

For no apparent reason, it seems that Penny Dreadful and Arak are working for the big baddy of the series. Who are those two? Well, unless you're a fan of Infinity, Inc., you probably don't have a freaking clue. Penny Dreadful and Arak were two members of Helix, a group of "villains" who had been experimented on while still in their mothers' wombs. This results in them developing powers, and most of them being completely unable to pass as normal. (Mr. Bones had invisible skin and organs, making him look like a walking skeleton. Kreecher looked like a anthropomorphic dog. Etc.)

The thing was, Helix were not villains. They did do some bad things (kidnaping Fury, causing lots of property damage and stealing a car), but for the most part, they were like teenagers would be if you gave them powers: reckless and irresponsible. They just wanted to have fun, and their idea of fun involved mayhem and super-powered antics. They had never interacted with society before, but they'd watched plenty of TV and based their view of reality around it.

However, their strongest characteristic was their deep bond with each other. None of them were blood-related, but they'd grown up together, and they put their bizarre little family first. Mr. Bones was actually kicked out of Helix by Penny Dreadful, and they were a couple. Why? Because Bones was willing to use lethal force against Helix when they were under mind control and prepared to commit murder. Because to her, nothing justified that kind of action against family.

And in Cry for Justice #4, she attacks Arak for getting ready to blab about their employer. This is so out of character that I am convinced that Robinson had never heard of her until he stumbled across her in a Who's Who while looking for people to kill to amp up the "drama" of this series.

Sort of like Freedom Beast was killed off for artificial drama. I don't even like Freedom Beast, and it still ticks me off that Robinson killed him off like that. Now Penny Dreadful's been added to the list of the dead, and it looks like the list will only get longer.

I'm starting to think that Robinson is setting aside his talent in favor of cheap ploys like shock deaths. It's a shame, because Robinson can be an amazing writer. Just look at his run on Starman.

Heaven help us now that he's writing Justice League. If he writes it like he writes Cry for Justice, expect a lot of angsting, out of character behavior, heroes acting like a-holes and shock deaths of characters who we never get properly introduced to.

Justice League of America 80-Page Giant

2009-10-07T21:37:00.001-04:00

I'm only going to comment on the Vixen/Green Lantern story. Because, well . . . Shining Knight is in it, and he's the only reason I picked up this book in the first place. The stories okay, but the more you know about the characters, the more holes you'll notice. Spoilers and a very long rant, ahoy!

Here is the set-up for the story: blah, blah, blah . . . villain with time travel abilities scattering the League across time. Vixen ends up in Arthurian times at Camelot. She wakes up with Shining Knight there. He assumes that she's been assaulted due to her "state of undress." He swears that he'll protect her since he's a Knight of the Round Table, and he's practically a living embodiment of chivalry.

At first, he assumes she's an escaped slave until he sees her "crest of nobility" (her totem). After she's changed into a less revealing costume, Sir Justin compliments her and we get a rather cute scene of him blushing when she flirts with him.

Then Morgaine Le Faye attacks, apparently because King Arthur and Merlin aren't there. Sir Justin leads the charge against her on his flying horse, Winged Victory. He tells Vixen to stay behind, but she immediately jumps into battle against the inhuman army. Green Lantern shows up, revealing that he too was sent to this time. His ring charge gives out mid-battle, and he's injured. Eventually, Le Faye calls a halt to the fight and suggests a battle between two champions in order spare further lives. Sir Justin agrees to be Camelot's champion.

Le Faye, however, decides to cheat and poisons Sir Justin (how is never explained- presumably MAGIC!). It's not enough to kill him, but it's just enough to knock him out until the end of Vixen's big heroic moment. Convenient. Vixen takes Sir Justin's place in the fight, and ends up fighting a mutated dragon-man thing. She wins, of course, by using her powers to copy the dragon's abilities.

The knights all cheer and are startled when Vixen reveals that it was her in Sir Justin's armor. Sir Justin offers a toast to Vixen and Green Lantern, and the story ends.

I have several problems with this story.

1) Sir Justin agreed to be Camelot's champion and fight against Le Faye's champion. The fact that Vixen took his place should have made the contest null and void. This is a huge plot hole that is never addressed. Not to mention that Sir Justin is stupidly noble enough to admit to the cheating and offer Le Faye a rematch. So, in essence, Vixen's victory should have accomplished nothing.

2) The artist gave Sir Justin black hair. Sir Justin is a blonde. (Minor point, I'll admit, but it's definitely an artistic screw-up. Aside from that, the art is nice.)

3) Vixen should not have been able to fit in Shining Knight's armor. Vixen is 5'7" and 115lbs. Shining Knight is 6'1" and 185lbs. Sir Justin's armor is form-fitting, and in fact, it's about as tight as any other superhero costume would be. There is no freaking way someone who is 6 inches shorter and 70 pounds lighter would be able to wear the armor, let alone convincingly pass for Sir Justin.

4) Vixen is shown riding Winged Victory to the battle. Winged Victory has been shown to be borderline sentient (if not outright sentient). He would recognize that Vixen wasn't Sir Justin, and I doubt he'd let a stranger ride him. Especially a Sir Justin imposter.

5) They did not speak Modern English in Camelot! They spoke Old English during that time period. This is a common mistake in fiction, but it doesn't excuse it. If they'd had Green Lantern show up in the first place, it could be explained away as his ring translating for them, but he wasn't there at the beginning of the story.

6) This royally screws up Shining Knight's continuity. Shining Knight received his magic armor and winged horse from Merlin immediately before going into battle with an ogre and getting frozen in a block of ice until the 1940s. He wasn't dubbed "The Shining Knight" until the 1940s, when he began operating as a superhero, but he's called Shining Knight in story. Time paradox?

Admittedly, Sir Justin did return to Camelot on occasion thanks to Merlin's magic, but if this is supposed to take place during one of those times, it still doesn't fit. Sir Justin would have met Alan Scott (the Golden Age Green Lantern) by this time, and the name should have immediately clued him in that Vixen and Green Lantern were from the future.

Don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled to see Sir Justin used at all, and the writer did some things right. The writer nailed Sir Justin's personality (chivalrous, noble, kind and brave). I especially loved him blushing when Vixen flirted with him: it was both cute and in character for him to give Vixen a flowery compliment and then blush when she flirted with him. But that doesn't make up for the huge gaping plot hole that's at the center of the plot.

Final verdict? I'd give it about a 9/10 for characterization, 7/10 for art, and 5/10 for story. (And this rating is only for this story. I just skimmed the rest of the book.)

Justice League of America #38 Preview

2009-10-07T20:54:00.000-04:00

I looked at the preview of Justice League of America #38. I'm not impressed.

The first warning sign is how dour and grim everyone is being. Especially Plastic Man. While he can be serious at times, Plas is a fun and upbeat character. When he starts being part of the "gloom and doom" crowd, it's either an indication of how serious a situation is . . . or really bad writing.

And what is up with that third scan? This might sound mean, but why would Plastic Man want to see or talk to Angel (the mother of his son)? I can see him wanting to see his son if he thought he was dying, but Angel? The two of them don’t get along. At all. Unless something’s changed that I don't know about, the only reason the two of them still see each other or treat each other civilly is for Luke’s sake.

The second warning sign is the writer: James Robinson. Why does his name sound familiar?

Well, he's the guy writing the mediocre (if not outright bad) Justice League: Cry for Justice series. A series that has Freedom Beast die within a page of being introduced . . . all in order to motivate a hero that he's never met before on panel. He also killed off Crimson Fox, Blue Devil and Amazing Man in a single issue of Starman. An issue that Starman didn't even appear in.

Anyone want to bet he kills someone off for shock value in the next few issues?

All I can say is that it better not be Reddy or Plas. They're the only reason I even skim Justice League anymore.

Mature Content in Comics . . . Or the Lack Thereof

2009-10-02T23:59:00.000-04:00

It used to be that kids were the main demographic that read comics. But comics are no longer written for children. Over time the audience age gradually increased until we have today's comics. Now, the main audience is teenagers and adults. Is this a sign that comics have matured?

Not really.
Unless you count that "mature content" has become much more commonplace. It's ironic that mature content is often very immature. T&A for the sake of T&A, raunchy humor, extremely graphic violence . . . rarely is actual maturity required to read these comics. In fact, having a maturity level above the average teenager is often a detriment to enjoying comics that's selling point is the "mature" nature of their product.

You have the Ultimate Marvel universe . . . where Hulk is a cannibal, and Betty is turned on by that. Where extremely graphic violence is the norm, superheroes with admirable characteristics are a rarity and sexual content is everywhere. Now that's not to say that sexual content is a bad thing. But frequently it's handled in such a way that it would fit right in the raunchy talk of a locker room.

Mature talks about relationships and sex are few and far between, and finding a healthy, lasting relationship in a comic is becoming harder and harder. Apparently relationships are only interesting when they are fraught with arguments and sometimes physical altercations. (But we're never shown the emotional and psychological toll being in such an abusive relationship would cause.)

In fact, mature conversations about any subject are rare.

Politics? If it's brought up, writers will often set up strawmen for their characters to knock down or show the other side to be a bunch of immoral hypocrites who don't care about anyone but themselves. Heaven forbid that two honest and decent people could look at a situation and disagree on what the best solution would be.

Religion? Avoided like the plague by some writers, ignored by others. And then you have some writers who like writing anyone who is religious as a Bible-thumping bigot or an ignorant hick. Not to mention the writers who attempt to write a story with "religious" implications without knowing a thing about the religion they're trying to write about. *cough*Chuck Austen*cough* On rare occasions, I've seen mature discussions of religion in comics, but I can count the number of times on one hand.

Maybe I'm expecting too much to expect much from a genre that involves people with superpowers in spandex. But it's kind of sad that kids are being excluded from comics because of "mature content" that is anything but mature.

Look out! Here comes the Spider-Lizard!

2009-09-26T19:12:00.000-04:00

What do you get when you cross Spider-Man with a lizard? Apparently, a very popular pet according to this article.

This particular species of lizard is blue on the chest and legs and red on its back and head. I suspect they messed with the photo a little for the article though, because all the other pictures of that type of lizard I could find had a much duller shade of red and blue. Either way, it's still an incredibly cool looking lizard.

Now all we need is a red and yellow turtle to match the Flash's costume. :)

Introduction to Me

2009-09-25T20:24:00.000-04:00

Hello. My name is Lady Momus. My name comes from Momus, the Greek god of satire, mockery and writers. Here are a few tidbits about me:

1) I'm a huge comics fan. I like a lot of the shows and movies that Marvel has done, but when it comes to comics, I'm definitely a DC fangirl.

2) My favorite comic book was Justice Society of America, but now that Geoff Johns has left, the quality has gone down. I'm hoping the new writers can hit their stride soon, but from what I've seen so far, I'm not holding my breath. No offense to Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges. I know the JSA is a difficult team to write stories for. There are a lot of members to juggle, and you have to have a fairly extensive knowledge of the DC Universe just to understand who all the characters are.

3) Some of my favorite books which are no longer in print are Young Justice, Impulse, Shadowpact and JSA. Yes, I know I've listed Justice Society twice, but a JSA TPB is what got me into reading comics rather than just watching shows based on comic books.

4) I probably won't be posting every day, but when I do post, the posts will be fairly long.

5) This blog is about comics and superheroes, so anything and everything about them is fair game for a post topic. (Well . . . almost anything. I'd like to keep this blog PG to PG-13ish.)